Drifting Apart
by Vigilluminatus
Summary: Each girl believes that the other two stopped caring about her or each other. Their fear of separation makes them use unsisterly methods to reverse that, but what will happen if a villain takes advantage of their feelings of guilt? Shoujoaiish at times.
1. Bubbles: Playing with their feelings

Well, since my last fanfic was quite cheesy in my opinion, I thought that I should try it again. This one is a rather dark fanfic, and I guess the charas are quite OOC. Nonetheless it's fascinating to think about what the girls would be willing to do if they thought their sisters were going to leave them. It's not really femslash in my opinion, but all of their feelings are portrayed as being very intense, so you may think differently.

I don't own the show or the charas.

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**Bubbles**** – Playing with their feelings**

I'm not a baby anymore. But they don't see it. Can't see it. And it's my own fault.

I'm Bubbles Utonium. You may now say that I don't need to tell you anything more, that you know everything about me from television. That I'm 18 years old, right now finishing Townsville High School, and that I'm still living with my dad – the Professor – and my two sisters. You may also say that I'm one of the prettiest girls in town, with my blond pigtails reaching my shoulders, my slender and delicate-looking figure – although I'm anything but weak – and my ever-present smile brightening my cute face. Thank you for saying that, by the way.

And of course you'd never forget to say that I'm also a tough superheroine, fighting monsters and supervillains on a weekly base and protecting my hometown since birth. That I'm every boy's dream come true, strong, beautiful and cheerful. Although my boyfriends so far have been either disappointed, when some villain interrupted a date and I had to leave, or rather intimidated by my ability to heave their cars with just one hand and put them down again in a small parking space. Okay, that was foolish, I know. Buttercup laughed herself silly when I told her, and even Blossom and the Professor couldn't hide their grins altogether. So I'm single right now, but it doesn't bother me that much. The Professor said once, that there definitely is a boy somewhere out there who's not afraid of my strength or frustrated by my sudden duties. I believe him and sometime I'll find this boy.

But I'm running off the topic. Actually you know nothing about me, the real me. Like them. Like my sisters.

We have been together all our life. Since the Professor created us in his lab by mixing together the ingredients little girls are made of – sorry, I can't tell you what, the Professor forbid us to do that after Mojo Jojo created the Rowdyruff Boys – we have been fairly close sisters. We went to the same kindergarten and elementary school, we attended most of the classes in Junior High together and we are still spending lots of spare time in High School together, not to mention that we still live in the same house, although we got separate rooms a few years ago. And we're still fighting evil as a team, each girl looking out for the other two.

That doesn't mean that we don't ever quarrel, by no means! It's clear you never visited us at home! Buttercup has been teasing me since our birth. She was never cruel… okay, hardly ever, but she did apologise when she had gone too far. I've always been the crybaby and Buttercup the tough one, so to others it seemed that my cute-little-girl-behaviour was unnerving my sister to no end. I think that's only half the truth. I know Buttercup much better than you, and I know that she has a soft side too. I think deep inside she wanted me to become tougher, so that no one, not even herself, could ever take advantage of my weaknesses again. I think she did a fairly good job, for right now I'm not such a crybaby anymore, although of course I'm still not as self-confident as she and Blossom are.

And Blossom… me and Blossom aren't fighting that much. She gets frustrated sometimes when I can't understand something she explained, and then she usually scolds me a little, but we never really fight. But Blossom and Buttercup do quarrel very often. Yes, the "brains vs. brawn"-thing, you got it. They have always been fighting about how we should fight villains. And ever since we reached puberty they have extended their fighting topics. Buttercup has always been kind of a rebel, and so she is now. She likes engaging in risky sports – although there is hardly anything risky enough when it comes to us girls, as Blossom stated once dryly – in her spare time and prefers hanging out with boys than with girls, sometimes even "bad" boys. No, not Rowdyruff-bad, but the kind of boys with piercings and motorbikes. She enjoys "thrills" and often argues that Blossom doesn't know how to have fun.

Blossom has always been the calm, collected one. She is analytical and I guess she is disappointed by Buttercups behaviour. She HAS had boyfriends, but her situation seems to be worse than mine, since she is pretty and strong like me, but highly intelligent too. I guess boys don't really like it when the girl is better in everything they do, be it sports or chess. She usually doesn't like the guys Buttercup is hanging out with, but she has clearly stated that this is Buttercups life and she won't tell her what to do. But she seems to forget that when she and Buttercup start arguing again. I've often tried to calm them down, but usually they just snapped at me not to interrupt them. Sometimes Buttercup was really heated up and insulted me, and then I'd retract to my room and wait till they calmed down again.

Don't get me wrong, I don't think they hate each other. But I have to admit that today they are fighting even more often then they did when we were kids, sometimes it gets so bad that even Blossom isn't against going out and fighting hand to hand anymore. The Professor once told me that it's a perfectly normal thing that siblings grow more distant when they hit this certain age between child- and adulthood, but if he tried to calm me down with that, he did a bad job. I hate to see these two important people in my life hurt each other. It makes me… scared. Scared that the bond between us may sometime… break.

Now it's out. I'm terribly afraid of losing my sisters. I got over most of my childhood fears years ago, I guess Buttercup indeed managed to make me a little tougher. But this is a new kind of fear, a fear that never goes away and that gets stronger every time Blossom and Buttercup start bickering again. A fear that keeps me up at night sometimes. These are the times when I revert to childhood and start crying again. Of course my sisters can hear me sob, we've got enhanced hearing after all.

Usually it is Blossom coming to my room then and comforting me. She has always been there for me when the Professor was asleep or not at home to soothe me. Mostly she lies down next to me, pulls me in a close hug and asks me what's wrong. And then I act like a little girl again, hugging her back and asking her with a childish, shaking voice, why she and Buttercup can't stop fighting each other. She says nothing for quite some time and after that she answers, that there is nothing to worry about, that everything is okay again. And then I ask her with the same, childish voice, if she could stay with me for that night. And I really want that, because I really _want_ to believe that everything is going to be fine between us, but I can't when I look at how often they're fighting over the simplest reasons.

I've always liked lying close to Blossom. What are you looking at me like…? Wait, not like _that, _you perverts! _Boys,_ I swear! I'll tell you once and for all, I'm NOT gay, but since we never had a mother I've always been very close to my sisters. Of course the Professor is the best daddy in the world, but I guess every girl needs a very close female person while growing up. And when Blossom comes to comfort me, when I hear her whispering soothing words while she is stroking my hair, then I sometimes catch myself thinking of her more as a mother than as a sister. I guess it makes some sense when you remember that she is the most mature out of us sisters… but when that happens, I always feel even guiltier. Although I'm nearly grown up, I continue playing the role of a frightened child in front of Blossom to make her stay with me. To make it harder for her, if she once decides to leave our family. To make her feel guilty, if Buttercup manages to drive her away from us one of these days. To make it impossible for her to leave me. Cause I don't want to lose her.

Didn't I say "even guiltier"? It's true, that's not the whole story. Blossoms feelings aren't the only ones I'm manipulating. My other sister is a victim of me too. Are you shocked now? That cute little Bubbles is playing with her sister's minds? If my sisters knew that, they wouldn't have been so surprised, when I told them that I wanted to study psychology after High School. They always thought I'd do something including art or languages – if at all, since I'm not the brightest – but I'm able to learn any language in days, so why bother? Nowadays I know why I can do that. I can do some kind of telepathy to learn languages from others when I need them. And no, I can't force people to do certain things, and do you really think I would do that to my _sisters?_ I'm not a psychopath!

Aside from this special kind of telepathy I'm also very sensitive with feelings, I think that's called "empathy". That's why I want to study psychology, because I can sense the feelings of others by just looking at them, and because I want to understand them better. And it scares me when I sense the feelings of my sisters when they are fighting. Anger, of course. Obstinacy, well, surprise, they were always stubborn. Hurt, when one of them says something cruel. Hidden guilt, which I don't know why, and… excitement. That's what scares me most. Part of them seems to _like _hurting the other one, with words and sometimes even fists. Okay, they are very much alike of course, so it may be the excitement of fighting against a worthy enemy, but nonetheless it's frightening. I can't stop thinking that sometime one of them will hurt the other one beyond hope for forgiveness. And that's why I'm doing everything I can to make them feel guilty.

Yes, Buttercup too. Oh, you think that my tomboyish sister could never feel that way? That's not true, because it isn't always Blossom who visits me at night or after one of their fights. When I continue crying long enough and Blossom doesn't show up, then very rarely an irritated Buttercup opens the door and demands to know why I'm keeping her from sleeping. Then I hastily wipe off my tears and tell her that it's nothing. I'm shameless. I know exactly, that when I pretend to be okay after crying so long, then she won't go until I tell her what's wrong. And then I continue to deny everything and to look like a picture of misery until she begins to feel a little guilty. And when that happens, then I have won.

At this point she sits down and asks me again, with a gentler, concerned voice. And then I tell her that it's nothing, that I don't wanna bother her with my stupid problems, and she says that we're a family and that she can't stand to see me like that. Well, I think you can guess where this is going to end. Usually Buttercup doesn't stay in my room all night, that's not her style. She is the tough one, not a softie, and even if she succumbs to my subtle manipulations most of the time, she just makes sure that I stop crying, that I tell her that I'm scared of losing her and Blossom because of their fights. Then she assures me that this won't happen and gets out of my bed again.

Yes, don't look so shocked! Buttercup isn't a sociopath, she _can _express her feelings! She _can _hug her baby-sister if she thinks it is necessary. That may be why I'm feeling even guiltier when it's Buttercup comforting me. She doesn't like showing how deeply she cares for us, but I'm forcing her to do so. I still think that this is necessary, that I must make her and Blossom remember our bond, just to stop them from hurting each other too much. But I'm feeling bad, so bad, when Buttercup leaves my room and I know that I've betrayed her trust in me.

I'm scum. I want to be able to show my sisters that I'm not a baby anymore, that I'm a young woman now, but I can't. I have no choice but to pretend to still be childish, no choice but to lie to them, force them to feel guilty, in order to safe our family. I'm selfish, yes. I know that we will go separate ways someday, but until that day comes, I'll do everything I can to keep our family together. Even if it means using their feelings against them.

I don't know what they'll do if they ever find out what I'm doing. I don't want to know. If that ever happens, then I hope they will see that I just wanted to protect them. That I just wanted to keep them from hurting each other. I'm not sure if they'll be able to forgive me, but I can still hope. Hope that they never find out, what cruel things people are willing to do because of love and fear. People like me. Cute little girl Bubbles Utonium.

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First chapter done. The next one will be Blossom's POV I guess. What do you think of it? 


	2. Blossom: Craving for their attention

Now it's official, I'm sick. Bubbles may hide many things from her sisters, but Blossom is really twisted. I was feeling quite strange while writing this, the girls couldn't be more different from their personalities in the cartoon, but it still seems to me like these changes of heart _could_ happen. If everything, really everything in their lives went wrong. Still, I'm asking myself how sick _I _am for being able to write it... I hope you like it.

PPG doesn't belong to me. You should be grateful for that.

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Blossom – Craving for their attention  
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You all know me. So what's the point of telling you who I am? Okay, if you insist…

My name is Blossom Utonium. I was born 13 years ago, when my father, Professor Utonium, created me and my sisters Bubbles and Buttercup in an extraordinary experiment. What? Of course I'm looking older than that, physically I was already 5 years old at "birth", so I'm 18 years old now. No baby stories for you, sorry.

I've been living with my sisters and the Professor for my whole life, and I'm currently visiting Townsville High School. It's my last year, and I'm quite excited because I got a scholarship for university. I've always been interested in science, especially chemistry. The Professor was actually overjoyed when I told him what I wanted to study. But I guess it's no wonder I'm so interested in this sphere of knowledge considering how I was born.

I've changed quite a bit since birth, well, like any other girl would. But the Professor hasn't actually been sure for a long time, if and how fast me and my sisters would age. Although I sometimes think that my sisters are still children in bodies of young women, considering their behaviour. But it seems as if we aren't that different from normal human beings, except for our superpowers of course.

People tell me that I'm quite pretty, much like my sisters. My ex-boyfriend once described me in a love letter as "a young woman looking like a goddess, with big eyes glowing with self-confidence and determination, with a body as strong as a titan, yet looking as female as that of a nymphe, with long orange hair, vibrant as a sundown. A goddess of strength, defending humankind selflessly. A goddess of wisdom, preferring mind to muscles. A cruel goddess, showing me her perfection every day, yet not thinking about the boy who is forced to see her, but not able to hold her." He was a sweet boy, I liked him very much. I was very sad when he ended our relationship a few months later.

Like I said, aside from the fact that I and my sisters are protecting this city with our superpowers, I'm a perfectly normal girl. I like shopping, dates and fashion as much as any other girl, although I may be a bit of a striver, at least that's what Buttercup tells me often enough. But I won't apologize for that, I happen to like school, especially scientific subjects, and I'm proud of my achievements. I have been able to do great things since birth, but I want to do the same in professional life.

You may now think that I'm a resolute, brave young woman, who is happy with her life and afraid of nothing. That's how everyone sees me. But it's not true, at least not entirely. And if you want to know why, you have to learn some things about my relationship with my sisters.

In our childhood we have been very close. Since we entered our life as 5-year-olds, we didn't have any friends when we entered kindergarten. That changed very fast when the kids realized, that we were completely normal children when not fighting monsters and villains. Especially for Bubbles it was very easy to find friends, since she has always been a sweet and cheerful girl. But in the beginning we had no one but ourselves. Aside from the Professor of course, he was and still is a great father, but well, he was an adult.

Like I said, we were quite close. Of course we had our fights, but we never forgot the time when we had been on our own. Even when I was frustrated cause of Bubbles' naivety, even when Buttercup was teasing Bubbles mercilessly or even when me and Buttercup were arguing about our fighting strategy – we never hurt each other on purpose. And then someday, I don't know when exactly, everything… changed.

It was one of these monster-of-the-day-fights. You know, some kind of mutated lizard, nothing too big to handle and dumb as a rock. We had no problems fighting it, the only dangerous thing about it was its acidic tongue, yet sometime during the fight it caught Bubbles with this tongue and incapacitated her. It wasn't really dangerous since we are rather invulnerable, but it seemed to hurt like hell. Despite of that Buttercup was pretty angry at Bubbles, after we had finished the monster alone. She scolded our sister for being too weak, too slow and a crybaby. Bubbles, already crying cause of the pain, couldn't take it and flew home. I was quite angry at Buttercup, but she flew away too, leaving me behind. Well, I made sure that the monster was really finished, then I went home too, being worried about Bubbles. But when I arrived there, Bubbles wasn't alone like I had assumed.

No, it wasn't the Professor. I was quite stunned to see Buttercup treating Bubbles' wounds, but I was even more astounded by the gentleness of my rough sister. She was still reproaching Bubbles, but she was using a soft voice, the kind of voice a mother would use, a mother who knows that her child has suffered much and can't take anymore. And Bubbles was playing her part too, being remorseful and telling Buttercup she was sorry for being weak.

In that moment I finally became aware of the strong and special bond between my two sisters. I had always known that they were much more emotional than I was. Bubbles had always been the heart of our team, her innocence showing us everyday why we wanted to protect the people of Townsville. I had been more of the brain and Buttercup the fists, although we all are very capable of fighting. But like in a body, which reflexes sometimes cause the fists to protect the heart without contacting the brain, Buttercup and Bubbles seemed to have a closer bond based on their emotional personalities. Buttercup was the rough teacher, who wanted her fosterling to become stronger. A strict teacher, who only showed her affection when she had gone too far. And Bubbles was the meek child, that wanted to please her teacher and that was devastated when it failed her. The principal, who told them what to teach and what to learn, wasn't important for them. _I_ wasn't important for them.

I still know that in this moment my world just caved in. Sure, I'm not dumb. I knew that my sisters loved me, but they also had their own, special kind of love, and I wasn't part of it. For months I tried to disprove my hypothesis, but I couldn't. I just _knew_ in my heart, that Bubbles and Buttercup were sharing a feeling which they didn't share with me. I became sad, I became frustrated, sometimes I even caught myself hating my beloved sisters. And that's what really got me scared. I had to do something! I didn't want to hate the two girls that were closest to me.

So I began to study them. I needed to know their deepest needs. I needed to know what I had to give them, so that they'd accept me as their soulmate again. Bubbles was easy and hard altogether. She is a lovable and sweet girl, and she craves for nothing more than for the feeling of security that a child finds in her mother's arms. There were of course Buttercup and the Professor, but as said, she is more of a teacher and he's our dad. Bubbles longed for a real mother figure.

Buttercup is stronger than Bubbles, more self-contained, I guess that she is fine with her sisters and the Professor. She needed something else. My sister has always been hot-tempered and more aggressive than Bubbles and me, so I figured that she needed someone to fight. Oh, we get into a lot of fights, that's true, but we are working as a team. And we are collaborating well, because in our fights against monsters and villains there are no secrets between us. But I think that Buttercup sometimes craves for a classic duel, one versus one, with an equal enemy. No, don't get me wrong, she doesn't want to kill someone, but she likes the thrill of an evenly matched fight.

I was very uneasy about what I was going to do, but I had no choice. I didn't want our family to break apart, but the separation from my sisters cause of their special bond drove me nearly crazy. I _had_ to do something. And is it really bad meeting somebody's desires to fulfil your own?

Yes. Yes, it is.

At least if you just do it because you want to bind someone to yourself inseparably. Call me sick and I tell you that you're right. I could argue that I helped my sisters with my doing, that they got what they wanted, but the truth is that I took advantage of their weaknesses, their needs – because of my jealousy. In battle they are trusting me to find a monsters weak point. And now I had done the same to them.

I began to scold Buttercup more often. That wasn't so hard since she is a wild one, and she is teasing Bubbles surprisingly often. Sometimes I wonder if she does it on purpose. To have more opportunities to comfort Bubbles, to show her soft side. But that's not important. Anyhow, she eagerly accepted my challenges. First we just argued about her teasing Bubbles, but she seemed to enjoy it. And I did too, I was blossoming in her attention, beware of the pun. So we found more things we could argue about, boyfriends, fashion, Buttercups bizarre friends at school… we argued about everything.

I have to admit, sometimes we get carried away. After all Buttercup is hot-tempered and I enjoyed her attention, the feeling, that I am the most important person in the world for her in this moment. We sometimes said things… we shouldn't have said. We said things we didn't mean to say, at least I didn't mean to, I _hope _she didn't either. When that happened, we wouldn't speak to each other for a few days. I felt terrible then, but at some point we'd find another thing to argue about, and then everything was alright again, we were in our special world again.

Knowing that Buttercup needed me made me feel happy, even though I knew how wrong that was, taking advantage of my own sister. Strange as the situation was, it really helped me. I didn't feel left out anymore, I felt like an equal in our sisterhood again. And yet it wasn't so much the feeling, that I had betrayed Buttercups trust in me, which poisoned these happy feelings in me. It was Bubbles. I was hurting her, I could see it. We were hurting her, with Buttercups and my constant bickering. We need these arguments, for our own reasons, but Bubbles, as I said before, needs the feeling of security. And she was probably thinking that Buttercup and I had begun to hate each other.

I know I should have told her. I should have told her, that Buttercup and I needed these small battles. But what should I have said? "Don't worry, Bubbles, I'm just using Buttercup to feel better myself"? Not really, no. So I rather assumed the role of the mother we've never had. Bubbles often cries at night, so I just had to walk into her room, embrace her and comfort her. It wasn't a hard thing to do actually. Bubbles is the kind of girl you want to see happy, no matter how. She is just so sweet and innocent, so different from me, wiping her tears away, stroking her hair and soothing her pain by holding her tight like a child came natural to me.

Having Buttercups full attention during our arguments is exciting, an elevating feeling. Simply holding Bubbles is totally different, not better or worse, but different. It is a feeling of peace, of harmony. In this moment I understood why mothers love their children with such burning passion, because of this sense of pleasure. But it was never for long, because of the question.

Because Bubbles asked me every time, needed to ask I guess, why Buttercup and I were fighting. She didn't sound reproachful, not even angry, but sad… so deeply sad. And that was worse. I swear, none of our enemies has ever hurt me as much as these questions do. Every time I want to tell her so badly what I've done and why, just to make her stop crying. But I can't. She'd hate me for sure, and she would be right to do so. I'm hurting her and at the same time I'm taking pleasure in comforting her. I'm worse than every of our enemies. At least they are honest.

But I need her. I need her and Buttercup so much. They looking at me makes me feel happy, they talking to me makes me feel whole. I can't tell them that I'm using them. I'll never be able to.

I'm a monster. I'm hurting my sisters on purpose, Buttercup through insults and sometimes even physical hits, and Bubbles through disturbing our harmonic family life. And I'm taking pleasure in their attention. But I mustn't tell them, never. If they ever find out what I'm doing, Bubbles will be hurt beyond all measure. She's still a child, it would destroy her. And Buttercup would never talk to me again, let alone trust me again.

How is it that I don't want to hurt them any further while I'm already hurting them? What kind of twisted love is this? The world of emotions is strange, I don't understand it as well as my sisters. I should have never tried to mess with it for my own goals. But I can't stop now. Forgive me, but I can never stop.

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Quite frightening what I did to her, isn't it? I don't think Buttercup will be worse - if that's possible - but if you're sick by now, you shouldn't read the next chapter. Stay tuned. 


	3. Buttercup: Spoiling their lives

So, here's the last sick piece of the puzzle. I'm quite proud of this Catch-22, I don't think HIM could have thought of something better to torment the girls. Maybe I should send him my CV. If the girls ever get their hands on me, I'm probably dead meat for all this pain I'm putting them through.

Thanks for reading all of it. I'm not sure if I should write a chapter about the Professor's thoughts or future chapters of the girls talking about their mistakes, what do you think?

I still don't own PPG, but I'll continue blackmailing Craig McCracken.

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**Buttercup – ****Spoiling their lives**

Heya, I'm Buttercup Utonium, one father, two sisters, famous superheroine, in my senior year in Townsville High, kind of a rebel and constantly pissed.

What? Why do I have to say more? Just cause some nerdy fanboys out there wanna know my measurements? Well, too bad, if they want to know, they'll have to ask me. The last one who did is still alive, you know. Kinda hurt, but alive.

… That was a _joke_, okay?

Nobody dares to ask me these things.

But what do you want? Aside from the fact that my life began in a lab and that I'm fighting monsters and creeps all day, my life isn't that interesting. I just like any other superpowered, rebellious 18-year-old, who likes to beat the shit out of bad guys and indiscreet machos.

What do you mean, "why rebellious"? No, I don't have problems with my family, kay? You better watch your mouth or there won't be any more questions! Okay, so I _have _always been the tomboy of the Powerpuff Girls, I _am _kinda aggressive and quick-tempered. I never promised anyone to be a perfect, well-behaved girl, actually my sisters are enough goody-goodies for this family. So maybe Bubbles thinks that dark coloured clothes and short shaggy hair don't emphasize my femininity. Maybe Blossom says that bikers and other thrill seekers are bad company for a superheroine. And maybe the Professor isn't so fond of my cynical approach to life and my tendency to sneak out at night for parties, but he never told me to move out, so I guess I'm bearable most of the time.

Anyhow, what's all the fuzz about? Why's everyone bothered by the fact that I'm covering my voluptuous curves only with dark, sensual clothes, _right you pervs? _Wish ya nice wet dreams, but in reality I'm rather wearing ripped jeans and dark sweaters, sorry pals. Skip that, but why are all people alarmed when I hang out with some guys with black leather jackets? Do they think I'll suddenly go evil and try to destroy the world or something? I just like being "wild", that's all, that has nothing to do with my superhero career. What's wrong with being a little out-of-norm?

Okay, sometimes I'm going a little overboard, alright. But I only came home drunk once or twice, and I had hurt nobody. And this tattoo-story isn't that bad either, no one's ever gonna see it, least of all my sisters. And no, you won't either, end of story!

Yeah, so Blossom isn't thrilled by my lifestyle. Perfect girl is hard to please, especially now that she's gonna go to university. Lil Miss "Soon-to-be-scientist" was also quite shocked, when I told her that I'd not go with her and Bubbles. Sorry, but I've never been the type to sit in class all day and listen to some guys jabbering, I rather prefer staying at home and fighting the occasional crimes. No, I'm not lazy, but since us girls can do every job faster than normal humans, it's kinda hard to get some work without someone fearing of losing his job. I guess it's like my childhood dream, you know, professional sports. I was quite upset when the Professor told me people would consider my superpowers cheating, and I guess it'll be the same thing in every job I take. Maybe I should consider vigilantism as a profession while my sissies are busy studying?

Well, as I said, Blossom doesn't like my rebellious attitude. Sometimes when I came home from partying all night, she'd shoot me some reproachful glances, sometimes we'd even get into a fight and after that we wouldn't speak to each other for a few days. Bubbles never was that narrow-minded, although I guess she still doesn't know of many things which I'm doing when I'm out. Aside from my occasional teasing we got along quite well, at least she wouldn't ignore me when I asked her to hand over the salt during dinner.

That doesn't mean that Blossom and I didn't get along at all. Yeah, we were different, but that doesn't mean we weren't there for each other when the going got tough, especially during fighting crime. Sometimes she and I were at daggers drawn – What? We're siblings, not saints! – but I'd have never left my sisters when they were having serious problems.

Why I'm talking in past tense, you ask? Well, cause one day everything… changed.

It didn't start with a bang. Or maybe it did, but I didn't hear it at first. Blossom was the first one of us girls to ever get a boyfriend, some wimpish, charm-oozing guy, at the beginning of High School. I nearly threw up when I read that love letter he wrote for her, "goddess of wisdom", my ass! But Blossom seemed to like it. She's always been some kind of an independent career girl and hates all that macho fuss – I do too, surprised? I only hang out with guys who _respect_ me for being a tough girl! – but seemingly this poetic crap was her weakness.

Anyway, I wasn't really bothered when she announced she was having a date. Bubbles was really excited, but I didn't think it would change anything between us. Yet it did. Blossom went out, floated back on cloud nine, she and Bubbles chatted all night, I heard some details when I got home the next day. No harm done, or so I thought. But it didn't stop there. She and this guy went out more often, and her behaviour started changing. I have to admit, I wasn't at home very often either that time, but I was a teen, okay? But always when I came home my sisters would be there to greet or scold me, sometimes both.

But now that changed. Before there had been her school life, her superhero life and her life at home, which Bubbles and Blossom always, me mostly, spent together. Okay, I wasn't really interested in their fashion dialogues and such, but we were around each other and we'd eventually talk, laugh or quarrel. But that had changed when Blossom started to spend most of her spare time with this guy! Of course I and Bubbles did see her in school and at home, but she always seemed to be elsewhere with her thoughts. Bubbles wasn't bothered by that since she enjoyed talking about this guy with Blossom, but I was becoming frustrated. I couldn't even get her into a fight anymore!

And then it hit me. Me coming home late wasn't important to her anymore. _I _wasn't important anymore. She was drifting away from us, still living with us of course, but her family wasn't the most important thing in her life anymore.

At first I tried to persuade myself that it wasn't such a big deal. After all I wasn't at home that often too, so what was the problem with Blossom not being there – in person or mind – most of the time? But nonetheless it kinda bothered me. I stayed away longer, I was rude to all of them more often, I even bought some clothes which horrified the Professor and Bubbles, but nothing, nothing was enough to bring Blossom down to earth again. And then I kinda got… scared.

Not _that _scared, okay? I wasn't really _afraid, _not like Bubbles is all the time, but I was really uncomfortable that she didn't even pay attention to me anymore. I was the rebel in this family, I was the one supposed to make the others feel worried! I'm _not _the one to _be_ worried! Of course Bubbles and the Professor were neglected by my lovey-dovey sister too, but that wasn't the point, they had no problem with being ignored, quite the contrary, they were _happy _for Blossom! I guess what I felt was some kind of… uncomfortable uncertainty. I was the one staying away for days, but there was always a home to come back to – people who were worried about me. But if Blossom stopped worrying cause of this guy… if Bubbles and the Professor stopped worrying too… would I still have a home then? A family?

It was stupid, I know. You don't stop being a family just cause of some boyfriend. But these questions haunted me, scared me, and somehow I got angry too. I didn't _do _fear, that was Bubbles' job! But I couldn't stop it and that frustrated me. And cause of that, I think, I made this… mistake.

I don't know anymore where I met him, but one day Blossoms boyfriend and I suddenly came across. And then I snapped. I shoved him against the wall hard and snarled at him, that I wouldn't lose my sister to someone like him, that I wouldn't let him seduce Blossom and take her away from us, and so on. I didn't actually hurt him, but he was scared to death and didn't dare to say even one word. I think that I don't _really _wanted them to break up. On some deeper level I knew that Blossom was happy, and the last thing I wanted was her to be sad. But I was angry and frustrated, and he was there, so I took all out on him. On the next day Blossom came home crying. He had ended their relationship.

Yes, I was feeling guilty. What do you think I am, some kind of monster? She was my sister and she was crying because of me. But I couldn't bring myself to tell her what I had done. I knew she would never forgive me. She spent the next days in her room, and Bubbles was the one comforting her. Even if I _were_ good doing that, I couldn't have faced Blossom at that time. But when she came out again, it began. _We_ began. To fight.

It started unspectacular. I guess I somehow mentioned her boyfriend or something like that, and she immediately snapped at me that I should shut up. Until then I had hardly seen her that angry, I guess she had been waiting for something to trigger her anger. It was a quite tame battle of words since she took me by surprise, but I noticed something back then. That she was alive again, for the first time after the break-up. And that _I _was feeling alive too. She was talking to me again, was focused only on me! I was important again! I was quite happy about that, and although I was still feeling guilty, I took every opportunity to quarrel with her from then on.

Bubbles didn't like that at all. She has always been the one seeking comfort and peace, and I guess she was thinking, that I considered Blossom weak and despised her cause of her boyfriend. She made some weak attempts to stop us, but we ignored her most of the time. Until I got tired of her whiny voice and told her to shut up, stop being an immature baby and leave us adults alone. I immediately regretted it when I saw her face. She looked shocked cause of the force behind my words, insulted and hurt. Her tears were already flowing when she turned around and fled into her room.

You may say, that it wasn't the first time that Bubbles cried because of me. That's true. Sometimes she is so naïve that I can't stand it, even now, at 18 years! And in our childhood I liked to tease her very much because of that. But I never, _never _did it solely to hurt her! Yes, she sometimes gets me to go up the wall, and quite often it ends with me bawling her out. But I always hoped that one day she'd find some courage and stand up to me. She's too good for this world. But this time she had wanted to help us, and _I_ had thanked her with insulting fury.

Blossom had already forgotten why we had started our fight, and was now screaming at me for hurting Bubbles. Normally I'd have defended myself, but at this moment I was too ashamed to do anything. I simply let her vent her spleen and went up to Bubbles' room afterwards.

I could hear her weep. Bitterly. And whatever you think of me, I've never liked hearing her cry like that. Yes, as a child I enjoyed teasing her, until she was on the verge of tears, but now I had really broken her heart. I opened the door and entered quietly. Bubbles was lying on her bed, her face buried in her pillow. I still know that I was quite uncomfortable back then, cause I'm not good at consoling people. I couldn't bring myself to embrace her or something like that, so I just sat down and rubbed her back while telling her that I was sorry. At first she didn't want to look at me, but after some time she turned around and we began to talk.

No, I won't tell you everything, that's fucking private! We just talked about things like if I really thought she was an immature baby – yes, sometimes she IS, but I didn't tell her back then – and why Blossom and I were always fighting. I admit, if Bubbles is looking at you with teary eyes and her voice is shaking, then not even I can stay calm. Sometimes I think this is another special superpower of her, causing you guilt by just looking at you with her big, blue eyes. And even so… I somehow enjoyed it. I must be some kind of a masochist, but I liked talking to her like that, holding her hand, soothing her. I normally don't allow myself to be weak, but in this situation it seemed the right thing to do, and it was relieving. It's strange that I'm feeling most comfortable around Blossom, when I'm fighting with her, and with Bubbles, when I'm consoling her. But as the Professor says, we _are _different.

Now you probably think that I stopped fighting with Blossom and tried being nicer to Bubbles, don't you? Well, I _did _try, really. We still _did _fight sometimes, but I really tried not to upset them again. It was just like before Blossom got her boyfriend… and then everything happened again.

No, not everything, but someday Bubbles came home and told us about _her _first boyfriend. Oh, I know what you think, and I didn't attack the boy. I didn't want Bubbles to be as devastated as Blossom had been, but it was the same thing all over again, her dreamy look, her mind being far away… yes, okay, I was scared again. So I waited for the boy someday after school and told him in a very friendly way, that if he ever upset Bubbles, he wouldn't have very much time to regret it.

I know that it was silly. I told myself that I only wanted to protect Bubbles, that I didn't want her to get hurt, that it was my duty to protect my sometimes so naïve little sister, but in reality I was the one who made the boy break up with her. I don't know for sure, but I'm quite certain that he wasn't able to enjoy any second in the relationship with my sister after my little speech. Fortunately Bubbles wasn't _that _crushed when they broke up, I was glad for that. Nonetheless I drowned my feelings of guilt by comforting her again.

I know what you want to ask, and yes, you're right. Yes, I sabotaged every single relationship of my sisters that way, while telling myself that it was for their own good. And I silenced my conscience by spending time with them, in my own way of course. I provoked as much fights with Blossom as I could just to get the opportunity to comfort Bubbles. Call me pathetic, if you want, but I didn't have the guts to show my feelings in front of my blond sister in any other way than hurting her beforehand. Strangely enough I often had the impression that Blossom enjoyed our quarrels, but right now I think that was just my mind trying to convince me, that I was doing her something good.

I'm a sick excuse for a sister. Just because my own life is so chaotic, I decided to spoil the lives of the ones most precious to me. Just cause I was thinking that they would forget me, abandon me. What a silly fear! I did call Bubbles an immature baby, but I'm much more immature than she has ever been! But I wasn't strong enough to get rid of it, and that's because we're in this mess now.

At least I'm past deceiving myself now. At least today I can admit that I'm the worst scum on earth and probably far beyond. Maybe someday I'll be able to tell them that I was the one who scared their boyfriends away. Maybe I'll have the guts to tell Blossom that I did it cause I wanted all her attention for myself, because I wanted her to use her quick tongue against me. Maybe I'll even be bold enough to tell Bubbles, that I hurt her on purpose so many times, just to be able to feel her skin, to wipe her tears away, to show all the feelings I don't allow myself to show otherwise. Yes, maybe I can do all these things… but I can't make up for all the damage I've caused, damage far worse than any monster is capable of causing. I damaged their souls, and they don't even know it. I guess HIM would be proud of me, he couldn't have done better.

Can you believe I even considered becoming a villain and telling them? To give them the opportunity to hurt me without qualms? But no, at least I'm not that much of a coward. I have to tell them everything as a sister, and if they don't want to see me again afterwards… well, so be it. I have to tell them. One day. When the guilt within me finally overpowers the shame and the fear.

* * *

Yes, the last passage is an allusion to Yay Ninja Bob's "Villain". I actually prefer "Autrefois", but they're both fabulously written. 


	4. Dreams: Reflections of the soul

Some warning: Dreams are a wonderful tool for a fanfic-writer cause you can do everything. So this chapter may be even more disturbing than the first three, and Blossom's part is definitely more shoujo-ai-ish. You've been warned.

Isumo1489: I wonder what you'll say after reading this chapter. I'd say I'm a psychotic pervert who likes to torture his favourite fictional charas, but maybe your psychological opinion is different ;) Thanks for the great review, you convinced me to continue the fanfic.

My reviewers: Thanks for telling me what you think of the fanfic. It's important to know what your readers think when you change the characters as much as I did.

PPG is not mine

* * *

**Dreams –**** Reflections of the soul**

_Bubbles woke up and blinked. __There was something wrong. She couldn't quite place it, but something was definitely wrong. She sat up in bed and looked around. Nothing seemed to be suspicious, the sun was shining through her window, a gentle breeze was making her light blue curtains dance, her room was still tidy and without any hidden enemy. So why did she have such a bad feeling?_

_Then she heard it. Her sisters. They were shouting__ downstairs… or better yelling. Screaming at each other! And from what she could hear this wasn't just some lazy bickering, but deadly serious! In a flash Bubbles hopped out of the bed, got dressed in a second and ran out of the room. She couldn't hear any words anymore. Just screams of pure rage… and fighting noises! She tried to fly, but strangely her powers wouldn't work. But she couldn't wonder about that now, she just ran downstairs._

_When she saw the living room, her eyes went wide. There was nothing, no piece of furniture, no decoration, that was undamaged. The couch was torn apart, the windows were broken, the TV had been smashed to pieces, and there were even some holes in the wall. But nothing was nearly as shocking as the two figures standing in the middle of this mess, panting and staring at each other__ with bloodlust in their eyes._

_Buttercups T-shirt had been shredded, revealing much of her firm body and her bra. There was some blood on her right shoulder, where it had been ripped. Her left leg had some burn marks and the rests of her jeans above them were still smoking. She had a big bump on her forehead and her face and arms were covered with scratches._

_Blossom wasn't looking any better. Her sweater was ripped at several places, as were her pants. Her red hair band was lying on the floor, with some of her hairs st__ill in it, the rest of them still remaining on her head looking quite ruffled. Her right eye was blacked, the rest of her face and her arms looking similar to Buttercups._

_Bubbles was unable to speak. These two couldn't be her sisters! Sure, sometimes they fought with more than mere words, but they would never waste the whole house, would they? All she could do was staying where she was and staring at the two panting girls._

"_What's up, bitch?" __Buttercup suddenly snarled, her fists clenched. "Is that all you can do? No wonder it takes us so long to take down some puny lizards, you're fighting like a baby!"_

"_Says the one who's bleeding on our carpet" Blossom sneered. __"What's wrong, slut? Not fast enough? Did you snort too much blow with your hard friends?"_

_Bubbles desperately tried to say something, to __tell them to stop this madness, but all that came out of her mouth was a feeble whimper. This couldn't be true! Her sisters would never say such things, no matter how mad they were! But here they were, in the middle of their battleground, with murder in their eyes. And if that wasn't enough, the Professor began to speak. If Bubbles hadn't been so confused, she would have wondered why her dad was not in the least fazed by all the destruction. He was calmly standing behind his two daughters, only his eyes looking angrily._

"_Buttercup!" he roared. "I told you what would happen if you started just one more fight with your sister! I've had enough of you!" He pointed at the front door, glaring at her. "Leave this house and never come back! You are not a part of this family anymore!"_

_Bubbles choked, her eyes went wide. This had to be a nightmare! The Professor loved Buttercup as much as Blossom and her. Even if she was causing him the most trouble, he would never abandon her. But not only these words flooded her eyes with tears. Blossom was seemingly crowing over the Professor's words and looking at her sister with malicious glee in her eyes. Bubbles had fought hundreds of villains, but she had never seen so much dark pleasure in any face. And even Buttercup didn't seem to be sad at all. She looked at the Professor scornfully and snorted._

"_So what?" she asked venomously. "Who says I ever wanted to be part of your loser family? Of course I'll go! It's not like anybody here will miss me, is it?"_

_Bubbles tried to speak again, tried to tell Buttercup, that this wasn't true, that she would miss her terribly, and that the Professor and Blossom didn't really mean their words, but there was a lump in her throat that morphed these words into a faint "No…" She could hardly see her sisters and her father anymore through all the tears, that were blurring her vision, but she knew that Buttercup was turning around and facing her._

"_What's up, Bubble-brain?" her dark-haired sister asked, coolly. "Why are you crying? If you truly wanted me to stay, you could have stopped our fighting. You could have stopped us so many times. But you are just a frightened baby, you can't hinder your sisters from hurting each other. If you weren't such a pathetic coward, then you could have prevented this."_

"_Even worse" Blossom interrupted Buttercup. Now she was looking at Bubbles too, despisingly. "You were the one who made our hatred grow! We were just having a few harmless, sisterly arguments, but you and your tears filled our hearts with guilt and grief, so much that we couldn't handle it anymore. They turned into anger, because we hated ourselves for making you cry, but the only way to get rid of this anger was blaming each other and fighting even harder. And every time you made us feel guilty, our hatred towards each other grew. You brought us this far, Bubbles! You and only you are to blame for this mess!"_

"_No" Bubbles whimpered and covered her ears with her hands. She closed her eyes and shook her head, causing her tears to fly in all directions. "__Th-that's not true, I n-never wanted you to hate each other. I just… just wanted…"_

_But she was interrupted by a swelling chorus, which slowly got through her hands and entered her ears. Buttercup and Blossom, who had been fighting just a minute ago, had joined forces against her, and she even thought to hear the Professor's reproachful voice._

"_Your fault… it's your fault… it's your fault…"_

"_Stop it!" Bubbles cried out in a sobbing voice. __„I n-never wanted this to h-happen! Please don't say it anymore, pl-please no… no!... NO!"_

"No!"

Abruptly Bubbles sat up in her bed, panting heavily. She was sweating and her heart was beating strong and fast, like if it wanted to burst out of her chest. Tears she had been crying during sleep now dropped onto her nightgown and drenched it even more. For a minute she did nothing else but trying to calm herself down, no looking around, no thinking, just breathing. Then she drew her legs up under her chin, hugging them fiercely.

This had been the most vivid nightmare she had ever had! Everything had been so real, had seemed so alive, even if her sisters and her father had been twisted counterparts of their real selves. Maybe it had been that way, because this was her deepest, darkest fear, which had been hidden inside of her mind for years now, suppressed though impossible to get rid of. Even now her body wasn't convinced that it had been a dream, there was still a pressure in her chest, tears flowing down her face, her hands still shaking. Her sisters had seen her like this many times, when she had acted like a child for them, but she hadn't actually been that scared, hadn't felt that helpless in a long time. She didn't quite know why, but she tried to soften her sobs. For some reason she didn't want her sisters to see this real, grief-stricken Bubbles Utonium.

* * *

_Blossom frowned. Hadn't she heard something? __No, that was quite unlikely. It was nearly midnight and her sisters should be fast asleep. She and Buttercup hadn't been fighting for some time, so there wasn't a reason for Bubbles being sad, was it? But then she heard it again. A suppressed, softened cry, definitely coming out of her blond sister's room. No sobbing, like all the other times. This had been a noise of pain. Not much pain, that was for sure, hardly anyone or anything was capable of hurting them, but still…_

_Blossom slipped out of her bed, intrigued. What was going on in her sisters room? Silently she opened her door and __left her room. She raised her eyebrow when she noticed, that Bubbles' door was ajar. Now she could hear better. This was Bubbles' voice, meekly and shaking._

"_But she is our sister-AH!"_

_Blossoms eyes widened. Something was definitely wrong here! Bubbles didn't seem to be in very much pain, but there was definitely someone inside of her room. Blossom floated to her sisters door and peeped inside. And her eyes nearly popped out of her head._

_Bubbles was kneeling on the floor, wearing her nightgown. She was stretching out her hands in front of her and her fearful eyes were fixed upon the person sitting on her bed. Buttercup. She was wearing her pyjamas too, but she didn't look tired, no, Blossom could see an excited glance in her sisters eyes, even though Buttercup tried to look disappointed. Her legs were crossed to accentuate her dominant position, and in her hand she was holding… a steel-rod???_

"_No backchatting, Bubbles" Buttercup told her kneeling sister with a soft voice. "Didn't I tell you that listening to Blossom isn't good for you?"_

_Blossoms jaw dropped, but before she could do anything, something even more strange happened._

"_Yes, you did, Buttercup" Bubbles answered with timidly, not daring to look into her sisters eyes. "But she is our leader-AAAH!"_

_Blossom couldn't believe what she had just seen. Buttercup had just hit her sisters hands with the steel-rod, exactly like teachers had hit their students centuries ago for being cheeky. Of course they hadn't used a steel-rod, but for Bubbles to feel any pain Buttercup had to use something hard and robust._

"_No, Bubbles" Buttercup said. "I'm not talking about her as a leader. I'm talking about her acting as your mother. Isn't it right that she often visits you in the night to give you comfort?"_

_Bubbles nodded, not daring to speak anymore._

"_Look at me, Bubbles" Buttercup demanded softly. She waited a moment until Bubbles had met her desire, then she continued. "Do you like it when she is comforting you?"_

_Bubbles nodded._

"_Say it, Bubbles!"_

"_Ye-yes-AAAH!"_

_Another hit. Blossom flinched. __Bubbles' hands had started to redden and she could see tears in the eyes of her blond sister. Yet she was too open-mouthed to do anything but watch._

"_This is wrong, Bubbles" Buttercup explained to her. Now Blossom was sure to see excitement in the eyes of her black-haired sister. This was sick! "Blossom is just using you for her own pleasure."_

"_N-no!" Bubbles replied, bursting into tears now. __„B-blossom wouldn't do that! She loves me!"_

"_Of course she loves you, Bubbles" Buttercup agreed, her voice now being soothing, understanding. "Everyone would love a sweet girl like you. But Blossom is hurting you when she starts a fight with me, isn't she?"_

_Bubbles swallowed hard. "Yes" she whispered. __„But… but she would never to that... to hurt me…"_

"_She does, Bubbles." She brought her steel-rod down to Bubbles hands. Her sister flinched, but this time Buttercup just stroked Bubbles' swollen hands gently with the rod. "She only starts these fights to hurt you… because she wants to comfort you afterwards. She is hurting you on purpose, just to get her own pleasure, Bubbles."_

_Blossom bit onto her lip to suppress her growing anger. What Buttercup was doing to Bubbles was wrong, so wrong! This was nearly brainwashing! But what hurt her much more, was that she had told Bubbles the truth. Deep in her heart Blossom knew that she wasn't any better than Buttercup._

"_No" Bubbles sobbed, more and more tears flowing down her cheeks. "This… this can't be true. Tell me… that this isn't true… please…"_

_Suddenly __Buttercup tossed the rod aside, took Bubbles' hands in her own and caressed them gently. "It is the truth, Bubbles" she said, sounding sad… but her eyes were burning, eagerly devouring every inch of Bubbles' skin. "I'm sorry." Then she suddenly knelt down next to Bubbles and began to kiss her sisters hands. "But I won't ever hurt you like that, Bubbles. Do you believe me?" Her lips wandered over the reddened flesh, soothing it, like if they wanted to undo the damage the rod had caused._

_Bubbles' tears had st__opped, but her cheeks were reddening now, and her breathing was becoming heavier. She didn't answer, and so Buttercup continued. "You know that I hate to hurt you, don't you?" she cooed. Her right hand found Bubbles' neck and began to caress it. "You know that I only do it to save you from harm?"_

"_Yes" the blond whispered, closing her eyes as Buttercups lips left her hand to wander up her left arm. "You would never hurt me on purpose."_

"_That's right, Bubbles" Buttercup approved, grinning slyly and lifting her face to look at Bubbles' flushed features, her hands continuing to explore the realms of her sisters skin. Blossom was so entranced by this unreal scene in front of her, that she didn't immediately take notice when Buttercup turned her head and looked at her. At her! She had _known _all the time that Blossom had been there! "_I _would never hurt you like Blossom does." And then she briefly grinned at Blossom, turned back and slowly approached Bubbles' dry, open mouth with her own, greedy lips._

_Blossom couldn't believe what she saw. Her sister__s would never, _could _never do that… do that to her! Sure, they were far more emotional than she was, but this… this was just disgusting! Buttercup was manipulating Bubbles in the worst way, was treating their bond as sisters with contempt! But… hadn't she done the same thing, when she had started hurting Bubbles on purpose? Was that the reason why tears were suddenly running down her face? Or was it rather that she was angry at herself, because her sisters were able to show their emotions, as sick as they were, and she wasn't? She tried to close her eyes, not wanting to be forced to watch this… scene anymore, but somehow her body wouldn't do what she wanted, and Buttercups lips had nearly reached their target…_

Blossom sat up so fast in her bed, that she became dizzy for a moment. Her face was white. Her breath sounded like an air pump, filling and emptying her lungs with amazing speed. The knuckles on her hands were white, nearly shredding her bed sheets. Her eyes were staring on her bedroom wall, but not seeing anything.

Shame, anger, sadness and a dozen of other emotions flooded her mind when she remembered her dream… her nightmare. She was sick! She had to be! How else could she think of her sisters like that, even in her dreams? She bit onto her lips like in her dream, but this time she couldn't stop burning tears welling up in her eyes. The worst thing was, that it wasn't just an ordinary sick dream, it was the one thing she was afraid of… Bubbles learning the truth about their relationship, and both of her sisters rejecting her and turning towards each other.

But why had the relationship of her dream sisters been so… _intense? _Was it because Blossom usually kept her emotions in check, suppressed them, and this… seduction scene had just been a one-time emotion-outburst? Or did she have these… _desires _inside of her, which were forcing their way out through her dreams?

Blossom buried her face in her knees, weeping quietly. What was happening to her? Why was she such a freak? When would this torture finally come to an end? Deep inside she knew that this could only happen if she told her sisters the truth… the whole truth. But even now… she couldn't force herself to do it. She was a coward. A sick coward. And nobody would ever see it.

* * *

_Buttercup yawned and sat up. __She hated standing up early, especially for school. But there was no use, if she decided to lie down again, Blossom would throw her out of the bed eventually. At least this way she had a few minutes more to get awake. So she stood up, dressed slowly and took her time in the bathroom before finally floating down the stairs, still yawning._

_She was still sleepy. That was why she didn't notice her sisters glances at her immediately, because they were so intense, that they nearly triggered their laser beam skills. She didn't even notice that they didn't return her mumbled "Morning." Her head was still foggy, so she just sat down and began to eat her breakfast._

"_Where's the Professor?" she asked tiredly. "Still sleeping?"_

_It took her another three seconds to realize that there would be no answer. She stopped eating and looked up. Her sisters were still staring at her. Suddenly she wasn't hungry – or tired – anymore. She had seen this kind of glare in Blossoms face sometimes, when she was extremely angry. It was a glance full of ice, holding back the burning rage inside of her red-haired sister. Buttercup suddenly heard an imaginary alarm bell ring. If Blossom was looking at you _that _way, you had done something terribly wrong._

_But that wasn't the worst thing. She wasn't exactly used to Blossom looking at her this way, but it had happened a few times in the past. But she had never seen Bubbles looking at her the way she was doing right now. It wasn't as cold as Blossom, for Bubbles wasn't such a calm and collected personality as Blossom was. In her eyes Buttercup could see a dangerous mixture of emotions: a little sadness, a piece of disbelief and lots of pain and wrath. __What the heck had happened to them?_

"_Bubbles? Blossom?" she asked cautiously. „What's up? __Why are you looking at me like that?"_

"_Why did you do it?" Blossom suddenly asked. Her face was still emotionless, but Buttercup could see her self-restraint fade away. "How COULD_ _you do this? To your own sisters?"_

_Buttercup blinked. "Huh?" she asked, confused. "What are you talking about?"_

"_We thought we could trust you, Buttercup" Bubbles said as if she hadn't heard the question. She seemed to be ready to explode too. "What kind of monster can do this to its own flesh and blood?"_

"_The hell?" Buttercup uttered, taken aback. __Was that really Bubbles, her naive little sister, calling her a monster? She got a little angry. "Would you please just tell me what in God's name I've done to you?"_

"_You know exactly what you have done!" Blossom suddenly stood up and banged her fist on the table, smashing it. Buttercup backed off a bit and looked at her sister disbelievingly. What the hell was wrong, Blossom had never been angry enough to destroy their furniture. But right now her eyes were flaring with rage. "Or don't you remember Brian?"_

_Of course she did. Buttercups eyes widened and her face lost all colour. Brian had been the name of Blossoms first boyfriend, the one Buttercup had threatened in school. She __KNEW?_ _Blossom knew what Buttercup had done? __How? "B-Brian?" Buttercup asked, intimidated by her sisters rage. „Who…?"_

_In the next moment she was __yanked up and smashed into the wall. „Don't play dumb!" Blossom screamed into her face. "Brian, my first boyfriend! Why did you scare him away?"_

"_I wouldn't try to free myself, dear sister" Buttercup heard Bubbles' cool voice through the ringing in her ears. "Unless you want Blossom to hurt you. Just answer the question."_

_Buttercup opened her eyes and looked into a grimace of pain and hate. She wasn't scared that easily, but Blossom looking like that made her feel VERY uneasy. "I… I…" She tried to say something, but she didn't know what. __"It… it was…"_

"_What's wrong, Buttercup?" __Bubbles hissed into her ear, anger accentuating every word. Buttercup shuddered. This wasn't her sweet little sister anymore, this was a fury. "Is it so hard to say why you scared EVERY SINGLE ONE__ of our boyfriends away?"_

"_That's enough!" Blossom interrupted her and pressed Buttercup even harder against the wall. Normally Buttercup would have fought against that, but she knew that Blossom was beyond anyone's control right now. If Buttercup started a fight, Blossom wouldn't hold back. "Tell me immediately why you did it! __Did you hate them? Why? __Or were you just jealous because we had boyfriends and you knew you would never get one?"_

"_Or was it even more sinister?" Bubbles groped Buttercups head and forced her sister to look at her. Buttercup didn't like the glitter in her eyes. "Maybe you weren't jealous of us cause we had boyfriends… maybe you were jealous of THEM."_

_It took Buttercup a moment to realize what Bubbles had just said. "No!" she burst out, shivering. That couldn't be Bubbles speaking… or could it? "I would never… I couldn't… I don't love you, I mean, of course I do, but NOT that way…"_

"_That's disgusting" Blossom said, releasing Buttercup. "You know, I think that Bubbles is right. You did scare our boyfriends away cause you wanted us for yourself." Buttercup didn't dare to look up. She was scared to see disgust in Blossoms eyes. __"I detest you, Buttercup. You're an abomination!"_

"_No, that's not true, please!" Buttercup couldn't believe it. Here she was, pleading! She, of all people! But the circumstances weren't exactly normal. __She looked up. Flinched, when her eyes met the ones of her sisters. "It wasn't because of that. Yes, I scared them away, but just because… because…"_

_She couldn't say it! This was the one thing she could do to make her sisters understand, telling them the truth, the whole truth. That she was scared to be left alone. That she needed them, as a family, as close sisters, not as… she shuddered. Lovers. That she did something terribly wrong and that she was willing to atone. But there was some part of her, this stupid bloody-mindedness, that hindered her from telling them, from __demeaning herself any further. She tried, she desperately tried to say something, to apologize at least, but as she looked at Blossom and Bubbles, she knew that they wouldn't believe her. After all, she was Buttercup, the tough loner. How could she possibly be scared of such things?_

_Bubbles snorted. "It doesn't really matter" she told her. __„We don't want you as our sister anymore anyway. Leave and take your secret with you – as long as you stay away from us I don't care."_

"_True" Blossom approved, ignoring Buttercups terrified face. "We'll go now. But don't take too much time… if we return and you're still here…" Her eyes seemed to drill into Buttercups eyes. "Then there will be no mercy. Leave us alone, Buttercup. You're no longer welcome here."_

_And with that the two turned around and walked out of the front door, shutting it with a bang. Buttercup stayed where she was, sitting on the kitchen floor, looking quite dishevelled, staring at the door. This couldn't be real! This wasn't her… and these weren't her sisters! Why hadn't she been able to tell them why she had done all these things? And why hadn't they listened to her? This was a bad dream, it had to be!_

_But all these thoughts were somehow far away. The rest of her mind was numb, didn't want to accept what had just happened. "No…" she whispered, a single tear leaving her eye. "Please… please don't leave me…" She couldn'__t leave this house. She would have been able to if they hadn't known about her secret, if she had known that they still loved her. But now... "Please don't leave me… alone…"_

It had taken her some time to calm down again. Quite some time, actually. When she had woken up, she had been in hysterics, nearly crying out loud. Good thing that hadn't happened. She really didn't know what she would have told her sisters, if they had entered her room, asking her questions.

Right now Buttercup was lying in her bed, hugging her legs close to her chest. This hadn't been a normal nightmare, it was the essence of everything she had been scared about in the last years. And the worst thing was that the dream didn't even tell her what to do. If she told her sisters nothing, then maybe, just maybe everything would happen like in her dream, and every chance for forgiveness would be lost. And if she confessed to them, then they'd maybe hate her just the same. She clenched her fists. This wasn't fair! She needed to know what to do! She didn't want this nightmare to return! Buttercup was a bold, tough girl, but this nightmare had scared the frickin shit out of her!

She felt lost… helpless. And that frustrated her to no end. How could she possibly hide these feelings from her family? They knew her. And at some point one of them would ask her what was wrong. And what would she say then? She couldn't just admit her weakness. She just couldn't. That would mean to tell them everything else too… and then they'd maybe leave her, like in the nightmare. Ah, the hell! It was all so complicated!

It took her three hours to fall asleep again. Fortunately she didn't dream anything this time.

* * *

Before you ask: No, this isn't going to be incest femslash from now on, although I admit, it was kinda exciting to write... okay, I'm sick, but that's not the point. Blossom's dream is just an extreme picture of her fear of losing her sisters cause of her lack of feelings (which isn't true, she has deep feelings and does express them, she' just scared of this "special bond" thing between Bubbles and Buttercup - well, you read her chapter, I hope you understand what I want to say). And there's something else about these dreams that needs to be considered... I'll tell you in the next chapter.  



	5. Professor Utonium: Seeing all Evil

Sorry for the delay, but I'm quite busy right now. I'm not quite sure if this explanation for their dreams is a good one, but just read it and tell me what you think of it.

Isumo1489: I would be interested, but I'm not sure if I've got enough time to watch all of them right now. Well, just give me the address and I'll take a look. Thanks for the dream-comment, but it's true, they are quite easy to write - everything can happen, you don't have to bother with logic.

The Wandering Puff: Soon enough? Good, cause the next one will take a little more time, sorry.

* * *

**Professor Utonium – Seeing all Evil**

What was wrong with them? What was wrong with his girls?

Professor Utonium was worried. Good, he was fairly used to that, being the father of three children who fought against all kinds of evil at least once a week. He had been worried about them when they had been five years old, and that hadn't changed when they had grown older. Perhaps that was something all true fathers felt. Being scared of losing their children, even if they were, like in his case, far tougher than himself. So tough that they sought every opportunity to fight against monsters, which were ten times as tall as they were, and villains, who weren't at all afraid of the whole Townsville Police Squad.

And yes, there had been some times when he had been worried about them cause of crime fighting, some personal cases. Like when Blossoms first boyfriend had left her and she had refused to come out of her room for quite some days. Or when Bubbles had been depressed for days after one serious fight between Buttercup and Blossom. Or, well, all the times when Buttercup had decided to stay away for days without contacting them. But nothing had made him feel nearly as uncomfortable as the situation right now.

They were avoiding each other. There was no other way to describe it. The whole day long the three girls had only spoken to each other when it was unavoidable. They had left the house without even greeting each other. Okay, they weren't flying to school together every day, but the Professor at least tried to have breakfast with all of them together. Buttercup had skipped it altogether and Blossom and Bubbles hadn't spoken one word to each other. And since they had returned home, they had been desperately trying to avoid any eye contact. Yes, that was the strangest thing. There had been no fight between Buttercup and Blossom, not even a little banter, Buttercup hadn't tried to tease Bubbles just once, there was no little bit of girl talk, nothing.

They weren't mad at each other, that much he knew. There had only been a few dozen cases of Bubbles fighting with one of her sisters in all the years they had been living together, and she had usually left the place crying. And if Buttercup and Blossom had fought, they would surely throw angry looks at each other right now. And none of this had happened, quite the contrary. They seemed to be… afraid of each other. As strange as it sounded, but they really seemed to be afraid even to look at each other. Like if they were ashamed of something.

But what could they possibly be ashamed of? Sure, everyone had his or her dirty little secrets, even his perfect little girls. But it couldn't be that bad… or could it?

He had to talk to them. He had at least to know why they were behaving so strange, otherwise he wouldn't find any peace. But that wasn't going to be easy. They didn't talk to each other at all, but Blossom and Bubbles had even been very uncommunicative at breakfast, when he had tried to talk with them, and well, Buttercup hadn't ever been the social type. Trying to talk to her when she was in such a mood was a foolproof way to shut her up completely. She'd probably ignore him completely. The Professor sighed. He loved her of course, but sometimes Buttercups inability to admit her weaknesses was a bit frustrating.

So not Buttercup. And Blossom had left again an hour ago, something about visiting the library. He looked to the stairs. Bubbles should be in her room. Maybe it was best that way. Blossom would probably try to avoid his questions with that keen mind of hers, thinking that a leader wasn't allowed to burden someone else with her problems – in some cases she was at least as stubborn as Buttercup. But Bubbles had never been too proud to share her problems with him, although she was trying to become more self-confident, like she had told him once. Still, he liked it when they were talking about all her insecurities. It made him feel like he was still needed. Yes, perhaps it was best that way. He turned around and walked towards the stairs.

"Not so fast, Professor!"

He stopped dead in his tracks. He knew this voice! He doubted that anyone was able to forget it, once heard. He took a deep breath and turned around slowly. There was no way to outrun this voice, so there was no need to be hasty. He had met this… person only once, and back then he hadn't thought that he was that dangerous, but what he was feeling right now was… malice. And a little amusement, but that didn't make it any better.

"What are you doing here, HIM?" he asked.

The demon was sitting on the couch, cross-legged and grinning at him. Although his pose was absolutely non-threatening, the Professor couldn't get rid of the impression that HIM looked more sinister than at the time they had met in this breakfast bar. Actually, back then the villain had looked rather silly, being dressed as a waitress. But right now HIM's crab claws seemed to be sharper, his skin seemed to be darker, his grin a little more malevolent. And his eyes seemed to glow, as if there was a fire burning behind them. Maybe there was. The Professor suppressed a shudder. This wasn't Mr. Freaky Waiter anymore, this was… HIM.

„Oh, that's isn't a very nice welcome, Professor" the demon chided him, but at least his voice was still amused. "This could just be a friendly visit, you know? After all, you were my guest once."

The corner of the Professor's mouth twitched. "You say you'd risk running into my daughters?" he asked dryly. "They wouldn't be too thrilled to see you in our house, I guess. Aren't you scared that someday they'll become too strong for you to defeat them, HIM?"

"Not really" HIM replied. His grin had vanished, but he still seemed to be relaxed. "Still, I must admit that they are VERY interesting opponents… for humans. They've been more of a challenge than most other humans I've watched in all these centuries."

"I'm not sure if they would be glad to hear that" the Professor responded. Then his eyes widened. "One moment, did you say 'have been'? Are YOU responsible for their strange mood, HIM?"

„Oh, why are you thinking that it was me, Professor?" HIM asked with an obviously fake undertone of hurt in his voice. "Just because I'm a demon who's had a grudge against your precious daughters for over ten years now? How rude!" HIM grinned again, but it didn't make him look any less dangerous. „Well, let's say, I'm not… _completely _innocent."

„How long do you want to play this game, HIM?" the Professor demanded to know impatiently and crossed his arms. "Do you actually intend to tell me what you've done or not? Cause right now I just want to help my daughters."

"My, my, how feisty we are, Professor" the demon commented. "Hardly anyone is that brave in front of me. You've been a good role model for them." He smirked. „Not good enough though. Right now they are slaves of their own fear. And before you ask:" He winked with his claw. "I'm not responsible for that. Each girl succumbed to her deepest fear long ago, and it was totally their own fault. Didn't you know that teenage girls are very prone to fear and depression, Professor? But you didn't notice and this was my chance."

The Professor frowned but said nothing. He wasn't sure if he could trust the words of a demon. Of course he had noticed changes in the behaviour of his daughters over the years, like Blossoms and Buttercups tendency to quarrel as often as possible, or Bubbles being more and more depressed after that. Since the first two were both strong-willed individuals, he had thought that these fights were a part of their relationship. So he had just reminded them to be a little considerate of Bubbles, and they both had assured him that they didn't want Bubbles to be hurt – okay, Buttercup had said that it wasn't a challenge to make a crybaby cry, but that was the same in her language. And since the two had always made sure to comfort Bubbles, he hadn't thought that there was a big problem. Had he been wrong?

"I would have never dreamt that it would be so easy to break them mentally" the demon continued, a satisfied look on his face. "Just a few nightmares to boost their inner turmoil…"

"Nightmares?" the Professor interrupted a little puzzled. "Didn't you use this method years ago? I thought you never try something twice."

"Ah, they told you?" HIM shrugged, causing his claws to clap. The Professor winced slightly. „It's true, I try not to. And it isn't really the same method, you know. My dreams, I have to admit, can only focus on the obvious, visible fears of someone. But only a true master can weave a nightmare to reflect someone's deepest desires or fears without making mistakes, like I did back then. And well… do you remember when the girls once fought the Sandman?"

"You can even command the Sandman?" the Professor asked, backing away. Just how powerful was this villain?

"Oh, I'm afraid not" HIM answered with a fake sad look on his face. "Normally he's out of my reach. But it was quite easy to convince him, that he was allowed to send the girls some little nightmares, after all they had put him through. MY nightmares, to be exact." He smirked again. „Oh, revenge is such a glorious thing!"

„What did you show them, HIM?" the Professor demanded to know, his concern about his daughters temporarily overpowering his fear. "WHAT?"

"I told you, I showed them their deepest, darkest fears" HIM replied patiently. Now his eyes were burning, literally. "I showed them… their sisters."

The Professor snorted. "Now I know that you're talking nonsense" he said snidely. "They _love _each other!"

"Oh? And why aren't they talking to each other anymore?"

"I don't know" the Professor admitted. "But every problem can be solved. We'll just talk a bit, work this out, and they'll be fine again, I'm sure. And if I were you, I'd leave now…"

The Professor wanted to turn around, but suddenly his body wouldn't follow his orders anymore. He tried to move, but to no avail. Slightly panicked he looked at HIM. The demon was pointing at him with one of his claws. The grin on his face had vanished.

"Oh, I don't think so, Professor" he said, waging his head. "You know, your precious little girls are very unstable right now. They are afraid of each other, believe it or not, and right now there's only one thing holding them together. Or rather, one person."

HIM stood up and approached the Professor slowly. The man tried desperately to move, or at least to shout for Buttercup and Bubbles, but he couldn't even open his mouth.

"If it weren't for you, Professor, they would have no one to talk to anymore. They would be alone. And eventually, they would break up, just to escape their pain, to escape each other." Now HIM was standing right in front of him, smirking. All the Professor could do was staring back. "And because of that… you will leave them, Professor. Don't worry, you won't die. Demons hardly ever are allowed to kill innocents – you know, balance between heaven and hell, such crap. I'll simply take you with me and leave it to them to break up. And _then_…"

"_Daddy?_"

HIM barely managed to turn around before Bubbles dashed against him, and together they crashed into the wall behind them. The Professor fell to the ground. He groaned as he regained control of his body again, pushed himself up and looked ahead. And his eyes widened fearfully. Bubbles had tried to tackle HIM to the ground, but the demon wasn't going down so easily. He grabbed one of her arms with his craw, and when Bubbles cried out in pain, he gripped her neck. Bubbles rattled and tried to break his grip with her other hand, but to no avail.

"Bubbles!" the Professor yelled panicky. He stood up, but he knew he would be too late. HIM saw it, grinned diabolically and banged the head of his daughter against the wall with all his might. And it nearly disappeared inside of the wall, crashing it. Fear clutched the Professors heart. Of course he knew that his daughters were used to such treatment… but Bubbles had seemed to be in pain before!

"Is that all?" HIM asked, between unbelief and delight. Now the Professor could see Bubbles' face again. There was some blood under the dust, and she seemed to be unconscious. "Just a few dreams and your formidable powers dwindle away like ice-cream in summer? Oh, I would have never _dreamt…"_

Something fast zipped by the Professor and sent HIM into the wall for a second time. Bubbles' body fell to the ground, seemingly lifeless. The demon didn't have a chance. Buttercups blows hit him so fast that he had no time at all to react, and if Bubbles had been weak, the green Powerpuff definitely wasn't. The Professor had never seen her like that. He couldn't see her face, but he could nearly _feel _her berserk rage. He was stunned. First a demon telling him stories, then Bubbles getting hurt, now Buttercup fighting like the goddess of war… it was too much, all he could do was staring at her.

Then suddenly HIM vanished. Maybe he had noticed that it would be too hard to beat Buttercup in this state, maybe he had thought that Blossom might be coming home too, whatever. From one second to another he disappeared, Buttercups blow damaging the wall behind him even further. She continued hitting the bricks, not realizing at first that her opponent was gone. Then she suddenly stopped, breathing heavily and staring onto the big hole in the wall. And a few moments later she twisted around.

"Bubbles!" She fell on her knees, grabbing the head of her sister and shaking it. Now the Professor could see her face. She looked frightened, no… terrified! He had never seen such pure fear in her otherwise so brave and strong-willed eyes. "Bubbles! Say something! What's wrong with you? Wake up, come on!"

The stiffness ended. „Buttercup!" he said firmly. „Careful! Don't hurt her any further!" He crossed the room and knelt down. He ignored the pleading look of his black-haired daughter and checked Bubbles' breath and pulse. A few seconds later he sighed with relief. She was breathing. Thank God!

„Dad, will she be alright?" Buttercup asked worriedly. She looked as if she was on the verge of tears. A bad sign. Normally she was very careful not to show her emotions, let alone tears, but right now this didn't seem to matter anymore. "Oh my god, is she hurt? Please don't tell me she's…"

"Daddy…"

It was just a faint whisper, but the two of them immediately looked down to Bubbles. The blonde girls face was distorted with pain, but her eyes were at least half open. The Professor smiled.

"It's okay, sweetie" he said. "He hit you quite hard, but you should be alright. Sleep now, okay?"

"Kay" she mumbled and immediately her eyes closed and she fell unconscious again.

"Help me, Buttercup" he ordered. "Let's bring her into her room. She needs some rest."

Buttercup hadn't even listened to him. „Wha…? Oh yes, sure." She seemed to regain control over her feelings again, even if she still looked worried.

"I'll carry her upstairs" the Professor said, as he noticed that she was waiting for him. "You bring me the first-aid-box and some water. We can't leave her like this."

* * *

The next half hour was enjoyable, because the two didn't have time to think about what had happened. They put Bubbles to bed, washed the blood – it wasn't that much, but still… - off her face, bandaged the wound on her forehead and then they both sat down, watching the blonde, pale girl. For a few minutes there was nothing but silence.

"Buttercup" the Professor suddenly interrupted the peace. "I still haven't thanked you. Without your and Bubbles' help I wouldn't be…"

"Don't mention it" Buttercup said quietly, not looking away from her sisters face. "It's no big deal. And besides, I was late. If I hadn't used my headphones for listening to my music…"

"It's alright" he stopped her and squeezed her shoulder a bit. She let it happen. Another sign of vulnerability. „You saved us. And Bubbles will be alright. You know that you three are fast healers."

She simply nodded. He let go of her shoulder. Now… the difficult part.

„Buttercup" he started again. „You were quite emotional down there. Panicky. Do you want to talk about it?"

She continued looking at Bubbles face, but he could see her lips pursing and her fists clenching. She didn't want to talk. As usual.

"It's important, Buttercup" he insisted. „HIM told me something about you. That you and your sisters are… afraid of each other. Because of some dreams he sent you."

She turned her head around so fast that he didn't see the movement. Her gaze was full of shocked surprise, a little anger and… fear.

"What?" she hissed. "He… _he _sent me this nightmare?"

"He did" the Professor affirmed. "He said that he showed you your deepest fears, because he wants you to break up. He said… that you biggest fear are your sisters, Buttercup." She quickly looked away again, biting her lip. Her knuckles on her hands were white. The Professor waited one moment, then he continued, quietly. "Honey, is it that? Are you somehow afraid of losing your sisters?"

„No!" she said loudly. Fortunately Bubbles was more than fast asleep. „It's… it's not like that! I was… just worried… because… because… she still doesn't know… what… what I've done…" The first words were quite firm, but then her voice started shaking and her eyes watering. The Professor quickly pulled her in a hug. She didn't try to avoid it, like she would have done any other time. She simply buried her face in his shoulder and started to cry. She still tried to stay quiet – she _was_ Buttercup after all – but she cried. He had never seen her crying since her childhood. This had to be a bigger problem than he had assumed. Why hadn't he noticed it earlier?

"There, there" he said. "It's okay, Buttercup. You don't need to tell me if you don't want to." He made a pause. "But you need to talk with your sisters about these dreams." She tensed, so he quickly continued. "HIM won't give up, sweetie. And as long you and your sisters are keeping secrets from each other, you're vulnerable. Look what he did to Bubbles. He said that her lack of power was because of her nightmare."

"I… I can't" she breathed. „I've done… horrible things, dad. I'm… I'm scared… that they'll hate me…"

"You have to do it, Buttercup!" he insisted. "As long as you all feel bad and can't trust each other, you're in danger. What if one of you three died? Then you'd be burdened with guilt forever." He let her cry a little longer. „At least your sisters had nightmares too. Maybe this will make it easier, don't you think."

Another minute later she seemed to get a grip on herself again. She gently pushed herself away from his shoulder and smiled weakly at him. "Thanks, dad" she whispered.

"It's okay" he assured her. „You know, I think you should stay with Bubbles tonight. I don't think HIM will return, but we can't be sure. And I will sleep in your room, I guess you'd hear it if he came for me again. Alright?"

"Sure. But if you touch anything, I'll have to hurt you" she tried to joke, although her voice was still a little shaky.

"I wouldn't dare" He grinned briefly, then he became serious again. "Tell her, Buttercup. Right tomorrow. Just remember that your lives are at stake." He tousled her hair a bit. "Don't worry too much. Good night."

She nodded. „Good night… Professor."

The last thing he saw when he left the room was Buttercup, who was softly stroking her sisters dishevelled hair. He smiled. He knew she could do it. Even if this was a situation that required more bravery than anything before.

* * *

I'm not sure... maybe I should have stayed with these inner monologues from the beginning, they were interesting to write. But well, now it's done. Do you think it was a good idea to bring HIM into it? I think that he of all people would surely use such a chance, but maybe it should have stayed a family problem.  



	6. Blossom: Betrayed by the loved ones

Well, that took some time, and I really don't know how the story will continue from now on. I hope you still like it, but a little warning - I can't say when the next chapter will be finished.

charisma: Well, HIM won't be a goofball in this fanfic - I need a serious villain for a serious problem. He'll not MAKE fun this time, he'll HAVE fun for being evil.

The Wandering Puff: If you liked this "messing with the mind" in the last chapters, I guess you'll love this one.

Isumo1489: In this chapter you'll see how Blossom handles her own fear.

Pinky: So, Vig, what are we gonna do tonight?  
Vigilluminatus: Same thing we do every night, Pinky - try to get the rights for the Powerpuff Girls!**  
**

* * *

**Blossom –**** Betrayed by the loved ones**

She was quite frustrated when she came home. Normally the library was a place where she could find peace, even if her sisters or some strange admirers were determined to distract her. It was the place that firstly Buttercup didn't like cause she ought to do boring things there like sitting still and reading silently, where secondly Bubbles got bored fast cause she wasn't allowed to laugh and chat with other people, and where thirdly her admirers wouldn't know what to say, since hardly anyone understood the books she was reading. In a nutshell, to Blossom Utonium it was a place to relax.

But today she hadn't been able to unwind, even if none of the three had been trying to bother her. Truth be told, she didn't remind anything she had read today. She had tried, really tried, but she just hadn't been able to concentrate. No matter how unputdownable the books were – and she had been desperate, she had even sneaked into the fictional section of the library to read extremely light fiction – it hadn't helped. All the time she had been seeing images in front of the letters… images of red lips, slightly parted to allow heavy breathing, of blond and black hair, being tousled by curious, exploring hands, which continued wandering down to the skin… to so much naked skin! And she had been hearing sounds, moans, whispered names, intimate orders… once or twice she had felt the nearly irresistible urge to scream out loud, just to take her mind off these… things.

She had cursed her vivacious imagination at least a hundred times today, but that didn't stop her from doing it again. Why, WHY couldn't she get these images out of her head? The nightmare had been bad enough, but her imagination seemed to be determined to continue this situation she had found her sisters in. And the more she tried to repress these imaginations, the more she tried to distract herself, the more vivid the images became. She wanted to know what part of her brain tormented her with these visions of her sisters' forbidden embrace, so that she could rip it out of her head!

She sighed, defeated. There was nothing she could do, she knew it. The only thing that could make these thoughts vanish, that could heal her, was, as cheesy as it sounded, time. All she could do was living her life as best as she could, spending time with her sisters _in the way__sisters should do_, trying to see the sisterly bonds between them, not the sick lies her brain was showing her. It wouldn't be easy looking at them, but she didn't have a choice. If she continued avoiding them, her mind wouldn't give her any peace.

It was already dark and Blossoms mind was elsewhere, so it's understandable that she didn't notice the half-destroyed wall to her left, when she entered the house. Any other day she would have wondered about this, just as she would have been alarmed at the faint smell of sulphur in their living room – okay, that could have been the Professor too – but this wasn't any other day. She was tired, she was frustrated, she was probably coming home as late as Buttercup usually did, since she hadn't exactly been in a hurry to come back here, and she just wanted this day to end, preferably without any dreams.

She slowly levitated across the room and up the stairs, since she didn't want anyone to ask her questions right now. One reason why she was coming home so late was, that she had been afraid the Professor would be waiting for her. If her sisters had been bothering her with questions, she could have just ignored them, but she couldn't just ignore the Professor. He probably had a right to know, what his perfect little daughter had become, but that didn't mean she WANTED to tell him everything.

Upstairs she immediately headed for her room without even looking at the doors of her sister's rooms. If she had done she'd have noticed that both doors were left ajar, but again she was quite distracted by distracting herself. Only as she reached out for the doorknob, she heard something unexpected. A faint whisper, scarcely audible cause of her enhanced hearing. Coming out of Bubbles' room.

"Silly Bubbles", the voice said. Blossom couldn't tell whose voice it was cause it was just whispering, but something in her head immediately presented a suspicion. "Getting hurt… just because you wouldn't wait for me to help you."

Blossoms eyes went wide when she heard these words. In her heart she already knew who the one talking in Bubbles' room was. But she didn't want to believe it… cause these words fitted so well to the ones in her nightmare. But… it couldn't be! It had just been a nightmare, a sick imagination made of her deepest fears! Nothing real!

She didn't want to see who was in there. If she went over there and looked into the blue Puffs bedroom, then is was possible… very possible indeed, that she saw something that would tore her life apart more than anything that had happened in the past years. She should just go to her room, lie down and sleep, and everything would be fine. She'd do just as she had planned, she'd spend time with her sisters, she'd see that they were completely normal, she'd even someday confess her sins to them, and whatever happened after that, she'd still be able to think of them as her beloved sisters.

But something drove her closer to the half-open door, something that knew she couldn't stand this uncertainty concerning her sisters anymore, that she needed to know the truth, as hurtful it might be. Something that told her about the special bond between her sisters, that she had discovered so long ago. Something that told her, that she would never find peace again, if she didn't look into this room. Something… that was right.

She tried to prepare herself, but how can you do that in such a situation? She just kept telling herself, that maybe this wasn't Buttercup in this room, and even if she was, then it didn't mean they… Surely Buttercup had been teasing Bubbles again, and now she wanted to apologize… or no, she said something about getting hurt! Maybe some villain had attacked them somewhere and Buttercup was now treating Bubbles' wounds. A completely normal thing, she was just helping her sister _in a sisterly way_, there was nothing indecent going on in there…

At first she could see nothing. It was quite dark in the house, but nearly everywhere were windows with nothing in front of it blocking out the moonlight, so it was enough light so see everywhere. Bubbles' room yet was REALLY dark with it's drawn curtains. But when her eyes had gotten accustomed to the darkness she could at least see the silhouette of the big bed. And… of two silhouettes lying inside.

"Damn, where the heck was Blossom when that happened, Bubbles?" Buttercup suddenly asked angrily, yet still quietly. Now she was sure, this was Buttercups tone of voice. Blossoms heart cramped inside of her chest. She could see even better now and she could keep apart her two sisters. It was obviously them, lying in the same bed. She could tell the one with the long hair was Bubbles – who else should sleep in her bed. And the short, darker hair belonged to Buttercup, like the voice. She still couldn't see much more than silhouettes, but there was no denying that these were her sisters. And what was this thing moving through Bubbles' hair? Was that… Buttercups hand?

"Just great, isn't it?" she heard Buttercups voice again. It sounded a little shaky, which was quite strange, but her usual grumpiness drowned it out mostly. "You're hurt and she's not here."

Blossom had to remind herself to start breathing again. Her head suddenly started spinning and she had to hang on to the doorframe. They two lying in the same bed, Buttercups hand caressing Bubbles' hair, she telling their sister nasty things about Blossom… it was nearly the same as in her nightmare! This… this couldn't be real! She felt her eyes watering… and she had to bite in her lip to avoid crying out loud, when she heard a soft moan. Bubbles' moan.

Buttercup had heard it too, obviously. „Everything's gonna be alright, Bubbles" she whispered. Blossom thought she saw her silhouette approaching that of their sister under the covers, but she wasn't sure because of the tears in her eyes. "Tomorrow I'm gonna tell you some bad things… but after that everything will be alright again. But… you must never leave me, Bubbles! I…" There was a pause, then she started whispering again, barely hearable this time. "I need you."

Blossom suddenly felt the strong urge to throw up, when she heard another soft moan coming from Bubbles. This… this was… she had to get out of this house, right now! She could barely control herself, but she managed to leave the house without screaming, breaking something or even slamming the front door. She even was capable of holding back her tears and curses until she was sure that her sisters couldn't hear her anymore. She EVEN flew up so high that no one on earth was able to hear anymore, before she took a deep breath and let out an agonizing scream full of pain and anger. But well, it was one of those screams which only had the purpose of being let out – not being heard.

When she slowly sank back to earth, Blossom was hugging herself tight, because she had the feeling that she would explode if she didn't. For the same reason she was clenching her teeth with enough force to bite through a steel beam. Only her eyes were betraying her. Of course she had closed them too, but that didn't hinder the tears from watering her hot face. She used so much force on controlling herself, that she felt completely powerless when she landed on the roof of a house.

It wasn't fair! It wasn't _fair!_ She could have dealt with a simple nightmare, as frightening as it might have been! But this was… to see them like… they had _abandoned _her! They didn't _care_ how she felt about them, otherwise they wouldn't _do _such things! Such nasty, unnatural…

"H-How could he do that?" she suddenly heard a meek voice beneath her. It took her a second to realize that no one was talking to her, but she was hearing someone inside of the house talking with her enhanced hearing. "How could he l-leave me?"

"He wasn't worth your time, sis" another voice answered the first one. It sounded soothing, comforting. It sounded… like Buttercup! Blossom growled, but nonetheless she didn't tune the voices out. "I told you. He was just using you."

"But I _l-loved _him!" the first voice cried. So much like her… she sounded so much like the Bubbles in her nightmare…

"You'll get over it" the second voice promised. "You'll find another one. Someone who's worth of your feelings. Just forget about this pig."

„But…"

„Shhhh, don't worry" the second voice interrupted her sister. "Everything will be alright, sis…"

She couldn't stand it anymore. With an angry yell she rose from the roof and flew deeper into the city. She needed some distraction, she decided. She didn't go into discos and bars as often as Buttercup probably did, but perhaps it would be best now to go somewhere, where the music was loud enough to short-circuit her brain. A few seconds at full speed later she landed in front of a building with a shiny front and a probably ear-killing atmosphere inside. Perfect.

She just wanted to approach the building as suddenly the big door opened and two girls stumbled out, giggling madly. They could have had a lot of reasons to do so. They could habe even had a lot of reasons for holding hands. But today Blossoms mind was troubled enough to jump into conclusions immediately. She stopped walking and watched the two still giggling girls, hoping to be proven wrong. But somehow she felt that this wasn't her lucky day.

"This was fun, Sandy" one of the girls said. She grinned at the other, slightly older one. "I'm glad you showed me this place."

"See, I told you it would be nice" the other one agreed. When her hand touched the other girls cheek, Blossoms gaze hardened. The voice of the girl sounded mischievous when she talked again: "But if you wanted to stay, why did you come out?"

The younger girl touched the hand on her reddening cheek. "It would have been no fun without you" she whispered.

The older girl grinned. "You're so cute, May" she said, pressing the younger girl against the wall of the building. "Too cute maybe." Her head approached the one of the younger girl, who was closing her eyes.

Blossom let out a frustrated growl and took off. Wasn't there any place in town where she could find some peace? The two girls looked into her direction startled.

"Was that… Blossom?" May asked after a few seconds. „The Powerpuff Girl?"

„Blossom? Why would she come to a place like this?" Sandy asked back. "Perhaps her sisters, but Blossom…"

"Maybe you're right."

"I'm always right." Sandy grinned again. „Remember when I said you were too cute?"

May smiled and closed her eyes again, when Sandy continued where they had been interrupted…

* * *

Blossom didn't know what was wrong with her, for she couldn't tune out the voices of the people of Townsville, when she flew out of the city. Most of them were talking about normal things, but she didn't hear them. The sentences that caught her attention were those like "I love you", "You have no feelings at all!", "Just trust me" or "You don't understand me!" They were driving her crazy! 

"Shutup!" she screamed and covered her ears with her hands. "Shutup, you freaks! You're not normal! I hate you!"

When she noticed that she was already out of town and didn't hear any voices anymore, she sank to the ground and lied down in the grass. Tears were flowing down her face again and inside of her soul there was a seething chaos of feelings, with pain and anger as the main ingredients.

"Why did you do that?" she asked, sobbing. "Why did you turn into freaks? WHY?" She banged her fist on the ground… or better into the ground. „I hate you. I HATE YOU!"

„_But how can __I hate them?"_ a voice inside of her head suddenly asked. It didn't sound really concerned, even a little hypocritical, but Blossoms mind was far too bothered with trying to control her emotions to notice something like that. _"They are my sisters."_

"They betrayed me!" Blossom yelled as she heard the word „sisters". "They betrayed everyone! How can they _do _such a thing? It's forbidden, it's unnatural, it's _disgusting! _People will look down at us! They will even look down at _me, _and I'm innocent! It's _their_ fault!"

"_Maybe they have been different all the time_" the inner voice pondered._ "Buttercup always liked touching Bubbles… okay, as a child she liked hitting Bubbles, but still she was more interested in Bubbles than in me. Maybe they have been… that way since birth. __Maybe WE have been like that…"_

"NO!" Blossom interrupted the voice and clenched her fists. "I'm not like them! I'm no freak!"

"_No, I'm no freak. But people WILL find out somehow. __VIPs like us can never keep something big like that a secret. And then they will hate all of us. It's so unfair…"_

Blossom closed her eyes and banged her fist deeper into the ground. But the growing anger wouldn't go away. "It's unfair" she repeated. „First they don't trust me, they don't even care what I think of… their _feelings, _then they do it right _next to my room_, and soon we'll be hated by everyone, even _me_…"

"_It's not fair" _the voice continued. _"THEY aren't fair! They are doing something completely forbidden, and they don't give a shit about me! They don't care that people will hate me too! __How can they do that? I hate them!"_

"I HATE them!" Blossom repeated, crying harder.

„_I must leave them! __They don't trust me anymore, they don't need me and they don't care if I'm hurt! In a few month I'll be in college… maybe I should move out. Maybe it's time. I always knew that we would have to go separate ways one day…"_

"Leave them…" Something inside of Blossom winced when she whispered these words. She had been so close to her sisters… for so many years… and the Professor, what would he say? Of course, she was a grown up now, and he wasn't stupid. He knew that children grew up and left their home to live their own life. But she didn't like the thought of leaving them like that, leaving them forever…

But then her mind suddenly remembered her of the scene with the two girls in front of the disco, only now they were her sisters. Hot anger flared up inside her as the two girls kissed each other, passionately, Buttercups firm body pressing their delicate-looking sister against the wall. And during the kiss she suddenly heard all the words again she had heard today.

"You're hurt and she's not here…"

"You have no feelings at all…"

"I need you…"

"It would have been no fun without you…"

"You must never leave me, Bubbles…"

"Just trust me…"

"NO!" she suddenly screamed. „YOU BETRAYED ME! I WILL NEVER TRUST YOU AGAIN! I…" she stopped and looked at the ground. Tears started flowing again, but her voice was still determined, yet quieter. "… I cannot live with you any longer."

"_I cannot accept you as my sisters any longer."_ HIM agreed in his lair, speaking into the microphone he had used for making Bubbles' toy-octopus talk years ago. He was grinning diabolically while staring at the TV monitor showing Blossoms shaking body. _"You betrayed me. I'm better off without you" _He switched off the micro. "Yes", he said, still grinning. "I'm better off without you."

* * *

I must admit, I love such misunderstandings - they could be solved with just one serious talk, but if the victims don't want to talk about the problem at all, the situation will get worse. I guess it's fitting that my favourite episode is "Little Miss Interprets".  



	7. Buttercup: Confessing her sins

MAJOR OOC-WARNING! I guess I have to say that, cause my Buttercup and Bubbles are SO much different from their TV-counterparts, especially in this chapter. I hope it's still believable cause of the back story, but tell me if you think otherwise.

Isumo1489: I'm not sure if HIM is necessary anymore, Blossom can be quite thickheaded too. We'll see, but he'll definitely will be at the showdown.

* * *

**Buttercup – Confessing her sins**

When she woke up, the sun was already shining behind the drawn curtains. She had never been much of an early bird, but when she looked at the alarm clock, she saw that it was already far beyond breakfast time. She frowned. Why had nobody woken her up? But when she heard someone breathe next to her, Buttercup remembered what had happened the previous day. She looked at Bubbles.

She couldn't tell if her sister was still injured, but at least she was breathing steadily. The small wound on her forehead seemed to be already healed, and her face wasn't as pale as it had been after their fight with HIM. But the small drips of blood on the pillow and her dusty hair were still a clean proof for her defeat the day before. Perhaps the Professor had made breakfast, but right now Buttercup didn't feel very hungry anymore.

After her talk with the Professor the previous day she had been thinking about Bubbles' condition. It had worried her. The Powerpuff Girls had fought countless monsters and dangerous supervillains over the years, but hardly anyone had been able to even make them bleed. Sure, their fights against the Rowdyruff Dorks had always been rough, and once in a while some monster or Mojo had managed to spill some of their blood, but all HIM had done was ramming Bubbles' head against the wall ONCE! That shouldn't have been enough to take her out!

_He said that her lack of power was because of her nightmare._

She couldn't help but wonder about this sentence. Had HIM told the Professor the truth? Had Bubbles been insecure because of some nightmare he had sent her? Had this been the reason why her powers had failed her? And – she shuddered – would she, Buttercup, have been weak too, if she hadn't been so furious because of what he had done to her sister? To tell the truth, she HAD felt quite uneasy after her own nightmare, especially around her sisters. She wasn't… sure if she would have been able to beat a powerful villain like HIM, if she had been the first one to fight him. Sure, she was more of a fighter than Bubbles was, but still… she hadn't been able to concentrate in school either. What if she had been distracted in her fight against the demon too? What if she had felt bad, worthless? Would she have lost her powers then?

Absent-mindedly she began stroking Bubbles' hair, looking at her sister, but lost in her own thoughts. Maybe the Professor is right, she thought gloomily. Maybe we must talk about our problems… about our sins. I mean, HIM already knows about our situation, and look what he was able to do. What if other villains get to know about our weakness too? What if one of us… gets _really _hurt, just because we feel bad around each other?

Still… it wasn't easy even to think about confessing to her sisters. She knew that SHE would feel betrayed and angry, if one of her sisters had scared away someone precious to her and had still pretended to be a loving sister. Who wouldn't? Her sisters were humans, well, mostly, but they weren't Jesus – why should they forgive such a betrayal of their trust? It would be only natural, if they hated her after her confession. And she knew for sure that feeling uneasy around her sisters _might _affect her powers… but being hated by her sisters _would _leave her devastated. She had promised the Professor to talk with Bubbles about it… but she wasn't sure if she had the guts.

Buttercup sighed. When had she become so weak? So… dependent on them? She was sure that in her childhood she would have been able to wait for their forgiveness. After all it was hard to stay mad at someone forever, especially if you were living in the same house. And the guys had been _boyfriends_, no husbands, for god's sake! So why was she so scared now? Why did this weak part of her think, that their anger wouldn't fade after a few months? She was Buttercup! Why wasn't she able to live without them anymore?

"What would your biker-friends think of you, if they knew that you're in bed with another girl? And stroking her hair?"

Buttercup blinked and looked down. Bubbles' eyes were open and she was smiling at her. Mischievously! Buttercup blinked again, and when she realized what her sister had said, her jaw dropped.

"Uuh… they… you…" A little anger flared up inside her. It was enough to collect her thoughts again. She immediately removed her hand from Bubbles' hair and sat up in bed. "Damn, Bubbles! How long have you been awake?"

"An hour or so" her sister replied and closed her eyes again, sighing. "The Professor came in a while ago and told me what happened yesterday." She opened her eyes again and looked at Buttercup shyly. "I took quite a beating, didn't I?"

Buttercup snorted, slowly gaining control again. Just a little small-talk, nothing big, nothing to be afraid of, she kept telling herself. "You can say that again! Hell, he attacked you only ONCE, and you were knocked out cold! I never knew you are THAT helpless!" She playfully nudged Bubbles on the shoulder. The girl winced slightly. Well, she had hardly ever been hurt so bad, maybe it was just a reflex. Buttercup hoped so.

"I didn't know either" Bubbles whispered, looking at her own knees. She looked so sulky, so… un-bubbly. "Who'd have thought that it just takes one nightmare to make me so… weak?" She smiled bitterly. "Even if I'm… the crybaby."

„Now come on" Buttercup said. She felt a little uneasy, but automatically tried to hide it behind roughness. She had seen Bubbles being frightened, she had seen her crying in pain and she had seen her being sad beyond words – many times it had been Buttercups own fault. But if there was one word that didn't fit to her sister at all, it was the word "depressed". Or so she had thought, because she couldn't describe this somber look in her sisters face in another way. Depression didn't fit to Bubbles' simple, emotional personality at all. "Just forget this stupid dream. HIM beat you, so what? Next time _you'll _pummel him again!"

"No." Bubbles hugged her knees and looked at the door. "This nightmare was important. It showed me what I have to do." She stared at the door for another second, but before Buttercup could get even more worried, Bubbles turned her head towards her and flashed her one of her radiant smiles. "By the way, the Professor told me that you nearly smashed HIM to pieces. He said that you went completely berserk after seeing HIM hurting me." She laid her hand on Buttercups. There was a soft look in her eyes. "Thank you, Buttercup."

"Bullsh… nonsense!" Buttercup corrected herself hastily. Bubbles' smile widened and Buttercup nearly blushed. "I knew he couldn't kill you with just one hit. I was just angry cause he had the nerve to attack us in our own house!"

"Sure" Bubbles agreed, still smiling. Why did Buttercup feel so foolish suddenly? Bubbles was surely strange today!

_Tell her_, an inner voice suddenly urged her. _Get it over with! You promised the Professor you'd do it!_

_Not now, _she rejected. All of her self-confidence left her at once. How could she have forgotten… what was still lying ahead of her? _We should make sure first that she's well again. It could be too much for her right now._

_Coward, _the voice said. _You're just too scared to tell her. How long are you willing to wait? Until HIM finally manages to kill her?_

She stood up abruptly. "Looks like your head didn't crack" she said loudly, trying to silence the voice inside of her. "You think that you're able to get up and have some breakfast? I guess the Professor would want to see you too." She turned around and floated to the door. But right as she wanted to open it, Bubbles' voice stopped her.

"The Professor told me that HIM sent you a nightmare too."

Buttercup stopped dead in her tracks. She heard that Bubbles pushed the bedcovers away and slowly floated towards her, but she didn't dare to turn around.

"Buttercup" Bubbles' voice was gentle and soothing. "The Professor is right. We _need _to…"

"No!" she interrupted her sister harshly. Then she regained control of her vocal cords again. "Let's… wait a little bit with that. Until you're fully healed."

"Buttercup, we _really _should…"

"NO!"

It had been too much. Suddenly she had seen these images in her mind, images out of her nightmare, images of Bubbles and Blossom staring at her with pure hate in their eyes. It had just been a reflex. When Bubbles had touched her shoulder, she had grabbed the hand and had pushed Bubbles against her bed forcefully. Bubbles cried out when her wrist collided with the bed… the wrist where HIM had grabbed her. It was this sound that made Buttercup crack. She fled from Bubbles' room into her own, locked the door and fell into her bed.

Stupid! She was so stupid! All she could do, all she ever did was hurting Bubbles! She clenched her teeth to hold back the angry tears. Well done! Really well done! First she had promised the Professor to talk with Bubbles, then her sister even offered her to speak with her, and she had nothing better to do than hurting her. And now she couldn't go back again. Before this it had been possible to talk. Bubbles had been composed and determined to talk about their nightmares – strange enough, this was childish Bubbles after all. They could have started slowly, could have rebuilt their mutual trust bit by bit, but now… How could she tell Bubbles that she hadn't wanted to hurt her, that she had been… afraid? She wouldn't believe her. How could Buttercup be afraid? And even if she did believe her… that would only drive them apart even more. After all Bubbles would see then, that Buttercup wasn't tough anymore. She'd see that Buttercup had been acting. Lying.

"Buttercup?" she heard Bubbles' muffled voice through the door. "Are you in there?"

She groaned and closed her eyes. "Go away, Bubbles" she shouted. "I don't feel like talking to you right now." I don't want to hurt you anymore.

"Buttercup, open this door!" Bubbles told her. She sounded quite determined. "Or I'll open it for you!"

"Hah!" Buttercup snorted. "You wouldn't dare!"

In the next moment she heard something crack. Surprised she looked up – and her eyes widened. Bubbles, cute little Bubbles, had broken her door open and was looking at her. Buttercup couldn't quite identify what kind of look it was, but somehow she knew that this was no crybaby entering her room. But even if Bubbles had shocked her quite a bit, she got angry. The Hell…?"

"Bubbles!" she snarled. „What…?"

„Shut up!" Bubbles interrupted her, closed the door and sat down next to her. Her gaze drilled into Buttercups, silencing her. She had never seen Bubbles look at _anyone _that way, not even a villain! In this moment Buttercup was sure, that this gaze contained enough willpower to defeat even death! And this moment was enough for Bubbles. "You will do nothing but listen to me" she told Buttercup with a calm voice. "You won't leave and you won't interrupt me. When I'm finished, you may tell me to leave, but until then you will listen to what I have to tell you. Understood?"

Buttercup could only stare at her. That couldn't be Bubbles! This wasn't the girl that still needed to be comforted, when Buttercup hurt her! _She, _Buttercup, was the one intimidating people! Bubbles was the meek, childish Powerpuff! Or so she had thought.

Bubbles sighed and lowered her head. That might have been the moment for Buttercup to regain control of the situation, but the next words of her sister caught her completely off guard. "Buttercup… I hope that you can forgive me."

Buttercup blinked. "Huh?" she asked. SHE… forgiving BUBBLES? Had she travelled into another dimension when she had entered her room?

"I guess I should tell you about my dream first" Bubbles continued. Now she seemed to get a little nervous, a little more like the Bubbles Buttercup knew, but she was still looking so… mature. And Buttercup herself… "Cause you need to know my greatest fear, before I tell you what I've done." She smiled sadly. "Maybe then… you'll be able to forgive me."

Forgive her? What was she talking about? What had she done wrong? Questions were blossoming inside her mind like flowers in spring. With a little more time she might have been able to mow this lawn of confusion, but Bubbles was already talking again.

"In my dream… my nightmare… I saw you and Blossom. You were fighting." Now Bubbles' self-consciousness seemed to melt away and her gaze became distant. She seemed to remember something painful. Nevertheless her voice was still clear. "I mean… _really _fighting. You had already devastated our house, and you were injured quite a bit. And you were calling each other 'bitch' and 'slut' and… and the Professor told _you_ to leave us and never come back again and…" Bubbles looked at her. Her eyes were getting wet, but she was obviously forcing herself _not _to cry. "And you said that you never wanted to be part of our family anyway."

If she hadn't been so stunned, Buttercup would have laughed. Bubbles obviously didn't know anything about her!

"I tried to stop you" Bubbles continued, getting a grip on herself again. "But then you told me, that it was my fault you were hating each other. Because I cried so often after your fights. And because you hated yourself and each other, since it was your fighting making me cry."

"But… I never hated Blossom…" Buttercup told her, her voice being scratchy. She tried to sit up, but Bubbles gently pressed her down again. A sad smile played on her lips.

"Yes" she muttered. "I think I always knew that. But this is my greatest fear, you know. It's some kind of… competition, isn't it? You and Blossom… you need each other, don't you? As worthy enemies. You didn't actually want to hurt her, did you? You just liked the… thrill."

Buttercup was speechless. Was this really her naïve little sister? Of course, Bubbles had told them that she wanted to study psychology, yet Buttercup had always thought this was some kind of joke. Well, her analysis wasn't _absolutely _correct. Bubbles didn't know that Buttercup had been fighting Blossom mainly for not being forgotten. But she was right, Buttercup had _enjoyed _their verbal disputes. She hadn't fought Blossom to _hurt _her.

Bubbles seemed to take her silence as a "yes". "I thought so" she said. "But you know… I just couldn't get rid of the feeling that one day… one of you two would _really _hurt the other one. And I guess I…" She swallowed. "I just didn't want to lose any of you that way. So I… started acting."

Now Buttercup was _really _confused. Acting?

Bubbles screwed her mouth. "This is… hard to describe. I guess you've noticed today that I'm… not a dumb crybaby anymore."

If there hadn't been this confusing fog inside of her mind, Buttercup would have laughed. Noticed? Bubbles had been acting strange all day! First she had been acting all composed and mature in her room, then after Buttercups attack she had followed her instead of crying, then she had _broken the freakin' door open_, she had analyzed Buttercups thoughts, and now she asked Buttercup if she had _noticed_ all these things?

Bubbles smiled at her sisters confused face for a second, then she became serious again. "I guess you have. I'm grown-up, sister. I have been for years. But I knew you wouldn't listen to me, if I begged you to stop fighting. So I… acted like a child in front of you and Blossom… to…" She looked away. Her voice had become faint. "To make you feel guilty."

"You… you did WHAT?"

Buttercup was still confused, and she did still know that she had done worse things to her sisters, but as anger flared up inside of her, she welcomed it. Anger was a feeling she could _understand, _she could deal with, and it drove her confusion away. Bubbles had… lied to her? _For years?_

"Buttercup, please" Bubbles tried to calm her down nervously. "I just did it because I wanted to stop you from hurting each other…"

"You… you played with me?" Buttercup growled and pushed her sisters hands away. Deep inside she knew that she was unfair, that she could understand what Bubbles had done, but it still felt like betrayal to her. "Every time I came to you, every time I opened my soul to you, you… you just shed some crocodile tears and PRETENDED to be sad?"

"No!" Now there were real tears in Bubbles' eyes again. She considered herself mature, but she was still an emotional being – and hearing such accusations from her own sister was more than she could take. "Please, Buttercup! I _was _sad, really…"

"DON'T LIE TO ME!" Buttercup yelled and pinned her sister down on the bed. Bubbles looked at her fearfully. "To think I even felt bad because of you" Buttercup growled. She couldn't think clearly, there was only red heat in her head. Her eyes were wet of hot, angry tears. "All these times when I started a fight with Blossom just to be able to talk to you… to show my vulnerable side to someone who wouldn't hurt me… ALL THESE TIMES YOU WERE JUST SIMULATING?"

"N-no" Bubbles whimpered. She tried to free herself, but Buttercup was too strong for her. "Please, Buttercup, you're hurting me…"

"I felt like shit!" Buttercup breathed, not listening to Bubbles' pleas. There was still anger in her gaze, but even more disbelief. Disbelief that her own sister had been able to betray her feelings like that. "Every time I hurt you, I hated myself! Every time I scared one of your boyfriends away, I wanted to die! And you were just… pretending? You didn't need me at all?"

"M-my boyfriends?"

Buttercups mind returned. Bubbles was pale. She was looking at Buttercup like she was a ghost. Just then the black-haired girl remembered what she had said. "Oh no!" she cried out, jumped away from Bubbles, curled into a fetal position and hid her face behind her knees. Damn! How could she have been so _stupid? _Why couldn't she just stay calm and work things out like civilized people? But noooo, she had to get angry and spill everything without any explanation _why _she had done these things…

"Buttercup?"

Bubbles' voice was meek again But right now Buttercup wasn't very eager to hear it. "Go away" she mumbled.

"Buttercup…"

Her anger towards herself made her snap again. She raised her head abruptly and looked at her pale sister with angry tears in her eyes. "Damn, what do you wanna hear from me? Yes, I scared the shit out of every single one of your boyfriends! And Blossoms too! Yes, I didn't want you to spend so much time with someone else! Yes, I started fights with Blossom on purpose! And yes, I did all that to make you sad, so I could comfort you afterwards! I'm a sick freak! So will you just say it and LEAVE ALREADY?"

Bubbles was looking at her frightened. "S-say what?" she asked, her eyes full of tears too.

Buttercup took a deep breath and hid her head behind her knees again. "Will you just tell me that you hate me and LEAVE ME ALONE?" she said angrily. "PLEASE!"

For some incredibly long seconds she didn't hear anything but her own heavy breathing and the occasional sniff from Bubbles. She was already thinking she'd explode from frustration, as Bubbles finally began to talk again.

"You didn't want us to leave you, did you?" she asked quietly. "You didn't want to be alone."

Buttercup clenched her teeth. She knew that if she said something now, she'd not be able to stop the flood of tears anymore.

"Like I… didn't want you and Blossom to hurt each other" Bubbles continued. "Hurt each other so much that it would break our family apart."

"Say it, dammit!" Buttercup finally cried, her voice cracking. She didn't dare to look up. She flinched when she felt Bubbles embracing her. "Why… why can't you just hate me?" she whimpered as she felt Bubbles' chin on her shoulder. "Why…"

"Later" Bubbles whispered, her own tears wetting Buttercups T-shirt. "We can hate each other later, Buttercup. But before that… we have to forgive ourselves."

Buttercup broke. She let her knees go, turned around and buried her face in Bubbles' shoulder. Bubbles embraced her again, her own tears running down Buttercups neck. Buttercup didn't know how long they were holding each other. She knew she wouldn't even have cared if a villain had attacked the city right now. That didn't matter. Nothing did matter. Except washing away all this pain inside of her. She was shocked when she finally realized how much pain it was. She had suppressed it, but it had always been there, burning inside of her. It was so… relieving to let it go. There would still be much pain left, much to work out later, but right now she was enjoying a feeling she hardly ever had felt: letting herself go completely.

The tears had finally stopped, but they were still holding each other, when she heard a cold voice behind her.

"Now, isn't that nice?"

She looked around and she knew that Bubbles had done the same, because she was the one asking: "Blossom?"

Their sister looked quite angry, but in her own, special way. She had never been the one to flaunt her anger like Bubbles or Buttercup herself, she was hiding it inside of her, waiting for the best moment to show it. But everyone could see this emotion in her clenched fist, her stern face and her icy eyes, which were staring at her sisters like cold laser-beams.

"Oh, don't get up" Blossom told them, sarcasm dripping out of every word. "I wouldn't want to _interrupt _something _private!" _With that she shut the door with a bang.

Buttercup looked at her blond sister, confused. "What was that about?" she asked, her voice still a bit sore.

"I don't know" Bubbles said. She looked insecure too. "Why is she so… angry?"

* * *

Is it just me or can't I write just one chapter without the girls hugging/kissing each other anymore? I guess I need a girlfriend.

If you want to read a more believable Bubbles/Buttercup-relationship, read Uniliteration's "Unconditional" - I think it's the best PPG-fanfic I've ever seen. Except for the sequel.


	8. Bubbles: Cruel surprise

Mmmh, I'm not so happy with this chapter, but I don't have enough time to improve it right now. Maybe it won't sound so stupid anymore when the next chapter is finished, we'll see.

Isumo1489: I'm really grateful for your reviews. I'm quite sure the fanfic wouldn't be so long if you wouldn't write something for every chapter. And your questions concerning the future events in the fanfic do really inspire me. Just keep your question about Evil Blossom in the last review in mind when you read this. Have fun!

The Powerpuff Girls don't belong to me, for they are property of Craig McCracken, who is their creator, which is why they aren't mine and will probably never be, but Craig McCrackens... (Whoops, I'm infected with Mo'linguish)

* * *

**Bubbles – Cruel surprise**

They should have stayed like this longer. It had been a day full of pain yesterday. First Buttercup had pushed her away, making Bubbles' injured wrist hurt again, then she had felt all the buried shame and fear again, when she had told her sister of her acting, after that Buttercup had hurled all these accusations at her, each one hurting Bubbles deep inside, and then she had heard about her raven-haired sisters' sins. She would have never dreamt of… Buttercup had always been so strong, Bubbles had been looking up to her sister for so long, she would have never thought that Buttercup was able to do such things.

Bubbles was still shocked. She was quite sure that she had never been so much in love like Blossom and her first boyfriend Brian had been. Okay, maybe it hadn't been true love, but Blossom had been very fond of the boy, fond enough to be totally crushed after their break up. Bubbles herself had liked most of her boyfriends, but most of them had ended their relationship with her after a very short time. And now she knew why. Anyway, there had never been enough time to develop serious feelings for them, so she had just been sad for a few days or maybe weeks, but she hadn't been really hurt.

Still… she could only wonder if one of these relationships could have been… the one, if Buttercup hadn't intervened. Probably not, since she was still very young, but who knew? She was feeling betrayed. Buttercup had messed up her life, had ruined her chances to get to know some very nice boys better, and she had done all this behind her back! Like some treacherous creep, not like the strong and brave girl Bubbles knew! In any other situation that would have been enough to shatter her trust in her sister completely.

But this situation was not normal. Despite feeling betrayed, despite being angry, Bubbles could understand her sister. Buttercups and her own intentions were very much alike, surprisingly. She had always thought of Buttercup as an independent and strong woman, and she had tried to be like her, but yesterday she had come to know a very different Buttercup… a vulnerable Buttercup, a Buttercup full of fear and shame, a Buttercup so much like Bubbles herself. A Buttercup that was afraid of losing her sisters, that didn't want to live without them, that would do anything to make Bubbles and Blossom stay with her. If it hadn't been such a serious matter, Bubbles would have laughed about their talk yesterday. After all the tough, aggressive Buttercup had most of the time been completely overwhelmed by the sister the raven-haired Powerpuff had always considered meek and simple-minded.

Somehow, despite all her pain, Bubbles was glad. In their childhood the three sisters had shared a mutual understanding, even if they had been very different. But when they had started to keep secrets from each other, they had also started drifting apart. For a long time Bubbles hadn't been able to understand Buttercups actions, but now everything was so clear. Maybe her own actions towards her sisters were unforgivable. Maybe Buttercups were too. And maybe they would still have to go apart because of their sins, even if they confessed them… maybe the pain would be stronger than their bond. But nonetheless she was glad, so glad, that she knew now that Buttercup needed her as much as she needed her sisters. Perhaps this beautiful feeling was enough… to forgive the unforgivable.

That's why she hadn't wanted their closeness to end. Being with Buttercup without all these hurtful secrets had been so… cathartic. She had lost her sister when they had started hurting and deceiving each other. But yesterday she had found Buttercup again. But this elevating moment had stopped, when Blossom had interrupted them. She didn't know why, but when her red-haired sister had looked at her, she had felt… cold. She had felt that way before… around villains, but never with her family! At first she had thought that it was just an open door or such a thing, but Buttercup seemed to have felt something like that too, because she suddenly ended her embrace with Bubbles, turning away, embarrassed. Blossom had just snorted and had left them alone.

Buttercup and herself hadn't been able anymore to talk about their confessions afterwards. Buttercup seemed to be too embarrassed – even if Bubbles could practically _feel _her alleviation of tension and pain – and Bubbles was too confused because of Blossom. There were no apologies, but at least they had been able to take leave of each other with sincere smiles. It was good to see Buttercup smile again. It made her look really pretty in a girly way, even if Bubbles would never tell her that… not even now. They would need time to rebuild their relationship, but at least the main obstacle was out of the way now.

But Bubbles was still wondering about her other sister. Blossom had been very distant the whole day. Good, that wasn't really new, given the situation of the sisters in the last days. But this time Blossom was even more reclusive. She had avoided speaking with her sisters, had left the house in the morning without breakfast and at school she hadn't even looked at them.

Bubbles knew that Blossom was angry at her, even without her empathic abilities she could have felt that, but she didn't know why. Neither did Buttercup. Otherwise she would have enjoyed the newfound understanding with her sister, the talking with Buttercup without feeling guilty deep inside, but Blossoms strange behaviour tempered her delight. What had she done? Or what had she and Buttercup done to anger Blossom? She would like to know, but somehow Blossom had managed to completely avoid her sisters the whole day. And while she became sadder and sadder the more time passed, Buttercup became angrier. She had never been very patient, and being shunned for an unknown reason wasn't something she enjoyed. Even now, after school, Blossom hadn't come home for some time. Bubbles and Buttercup had agreed that it wasn't important enough to start a search, but she still felt quite anxious. She wanted to talk to Blossom as soon as possible. She didn't want to tell Buttercup, but this cold sensation, when Blossom had looked at them the day before… it was scaring her.

Suddenly she was jolted from her thoughts when her pager started to buzz. When they had reached puberty, the girls had convinced the mayor that one telephone wasn't the right thing to reach them anymore. After all Buttercup had been hanging out with her friends after school all the time, Blossom had become busy studying and had started spending much time in school or the library, and even Bubbles herself wasn't at home that often anymore. So they had got pagers from the town, so that they could be contacted immediately in case of an emergency. She read the message. A giant chicken with boxing gloves was destroying the city! One second later the window was open and Bubbles was already gone.

She was the first one arriving at the crime scene. The chicken had gone totally crazy, it was cackling obsessively and knocked down a skyscraper with one mighty blow. It's red eyes hinted that it had gone berserk, nevertheless Bubbles tried to talk with the monster first. She didn't like hurting animals if it wasn't unavoidable.

"Please stop!" she said in Chickenish with no accent. "You are hurting innocent people! What's wro…"

Actually she didn't think she'd have succeeded in calming Mike Chicken down, but at least it had been focused on her. So she felt a little angry as someone attacked the monster from behind, ruining her efforts. As the monster went to ground she could see who the attacker was. Her eyes narrowed.

"Blossom!" she shouted. „Why did you do that? I was still trying to calm it down!"

"Yeah, that's just like you" Blossom replied with the cold gaze from the day before. "The thing knocks down a building with people in it, and you do what? You try to talk with it!"

Bubbles felt a little hurt. „How do you know it wouldn't have worked?" she asked, glaring at her sister.

Blossom smirked, but her eyes stayed cool as ice. "Well, maybe cause of… that!"

In the same moment something hit Bubbles from below and hurled her into the air. It pressed the air out of her lungs and for some seconds Bubbles didn't know where she was. This was enough for the monster to stand up again and knock her though another skyscraper. Bubbles cried out in pain. The boxing glove had hit her head directly and the pain from HIMs attack flared up inside of her skull again. She was waiting for the impact on the street, but suddenly something caught her. Or rather, someone. She opened her eyes.

"B-Buttercup?" she asked, groaning slightly. Buttercup landed with Bubbles in her arms and lay her down gently. "Thank you."

"Skip that" the green Powerpuff growled. But she wasn't angry at Bubbles, she was looking at the monster and Blossom, who was currently fighting it. "Why the heck didn't Blossom help you? Or at least warn you?"

"I… I don't know" Bubbles admitted, rubbing her head. It wasn't hurting very much anymore, but she could still hear the flowing blood. She could hardly concentrate. "I think she's still angry…"

"Really?" Buttercup asked dryly and narrowed her eyes. "Well, she isn't the only one anymore!" She stood up.

"Buttercup, you two mustn't fight now! We have to defeat the monster chicken first!" Bubbles tried to stand up, but Buttercup pressed her down again, turning her head towards her and giving her an intense look.

"I know. But WE won't fight, you're staying here." As Bubbles tried to say something, Buttercup put her finger on her sisters lips. "And DON'T argue with me! You're hurt. The Professor would kill me if anything more happens to you."

Bubbles could have said that they had won much harder fights, but when she looked into Buttercups eyes, she swallowed the answer. Buttercup was acting tough again, but in her eyes Bubbles could see a plea. It wasn't the Professor – Buttercup herself didn't want Bubbles to get hurt. And Bubbles understood. She and Buttercup had found each other again, and the raven-haired sister didn't want to lose her anymore. Bubbles wondered if she should remind Buttercup that she wasn't a child anymore, but then she just pushed Buttercups finger away and nodded, smiling slightly. The monster was more important. Buttercup immediately vanished, green light blazing her trail.

The giant chicken didn't stand a chance, even i fit was only facing two Powerpuff Girls. It was actually quite weak, it had only managed to surprise Bubbles once. Nonetheless Blossom and Buttercup needed quite some time to bring it down, and Bubbles, who was watching the fight from above, knew exactly why. They weren't working together. Sure, she doubted that Buttercup would have followed Blossoms orders this time, she was too mad at their sister right now. But Blossom didn't even give any orders. She didn't even seem to care that Buttercup was here! She fought the monster like she was alone, not the leader of a team!

It was Buttercup who finally beat the monster chicken. She used a steel beam from one of the destroyed buildings and smashed the monster against another skyscraper, finally burying it under the debris. Bubbles winced. Okay, Townsville had been destroyed so often that the citizens were quite used to it, and they had had enough time to get out of the danger area during their fight. But surely there would have been another method to bring the monster down than destroying another building. Blossom seemed to think the same.

"Smooth, Buttercup, smooth" she sneered. „I guess this one included you've destroyed every single skyscraper in Townsville at least once in our crime fighting career."

"The hell?" Buttercup screamed, hurled the steel beam aside and looked at Blossom with murder in her eyes. "You did practically nothing to assist me, so what was I supposed to do? Tickling it to death? Besides, why did you let this Chicken-Whopper-raw-material hurt Bubbles? What the heck is wrong with you, Blossom?"

"Wrong with ME?" Blossom hissed. „YOU ask ME, what's wrong with me? You…"

"Please, you two, don't fight" Bubbles interrupted them loudly and flew between them. Buttercup closed her mouth again, but Blossom looked at Bubbles with disgust. Nevertheless Bubbles didn't flinch. She wouldn't show weakness now. „Blossom, Buttercup is right. You weren't a teamleader in this fight. You ignored us. Please tell us what's wrong, sister."

Blossom snorted. „Nothing's wrong" she claimed. Her sisters knew immediately that she was lying. „At least not with me. But you should be able to fight without my help anyway. After all, we won't be together all our lives, will we? And the time of separation might be closer than you think." She glared at them. „I'm fed up of living with you two! And I bet you don't even care… after all, YOU two are getting along perfectly, aren't you?"

She took off. And left two rather confused sisters behind.

"_Fed up of living with you two?_" Buttercup repeated. "What the heck is wrong with her? What did we DO to her?"

„I don't know" Bubbles answered, shrugging. „Do you think that maybe… she heard us when we confessed to each other?"

The anger in Buttercups eyes vanished and was replaced by dismay. "Yeah, maybe… do you think that she is just hurt?"

Bubbles nodded. „I think we should apologize to her personally." When she saw Buttercups gloomy face she continued. "You know that we have to do eventually, Buttercup."

"Yeah, I know" Buttercup sighed. „It's just… well… you're so different from before, Bubbles. I…" She looked down and mumbled: "I guess I would have liked to get a little more accustomed to your… new You before talking to Blossom."

"Oh Buttercup" Bubbles said, stirred, and impulsively hugged her sister. Buttercup stiffened for a moment, but then she relaxed, when Bubbles moved back again, although she was still holding Buttercups hands. "I will always be your little sister. I will always like playing with my dolls. I will always like hugging you, even if it's childish. I CAN be more mature if I need to be, but that doesn't mean that I'll break your door open every time I visit you from now on."

Buttercup grinned. "I sure hope so" she told Bubbles. „The Professor would flip, you know." Then she became serious again. "Okay, so we'll talk to Blossom. I just hope that this is it, if there are any more problems, I'm gonna go crazy."

Bubbles smiled. "Now that sounds more like you, Buttercup."

Little did they know that their next problem had already started.

* * *

Bubbles was deeply worried when she walked into the school building on the next day. Blossom hadn't com home after their monster fight, and the Professor had asked them if they knew what their sister was doing. She had even considered lying to him, so that he wouldn't worry too much, but she had decided against it. Lies and betrayal had moved her away from her sisters in the past, she wouldn't make the same mistake with the Professor. And she hadn't had the slightest clue where Blossom had been. Neither had Buttercup. The Professor had said that Blossom was more than capable of defending herself, but she had sensed a bit of uneasiness around him too. It wasn't like Blossom to stay away without saying something. 

Bubbles was thinking about all this, and because of that she didn't hear all the whispering at first. Buttercup had gotten up later than her, so she walked through school alone, not even noticing all the looks she got from the other pupils. Only when she nearly bumped into someone she suddenly started listening. And frowned.

"… no, I can't believe it. They are completely normal in class."

"They were never normal, you know that."

"Yeah, but…"

The two girls stopped talking when they saw Bubbles. They looked even… guilty when they left into their classroom. Bubbles blinked and started walking again. What was going on here? And on the way to her class she could hear even more strange dialogues with her enhanced hearing. Even more strange was that the people seemed to be talking about her and her sisters.

"I always knew Buttercup was swinging that way, you know…"

"Yeah, never had a boyfriend, I know…"

"I don't believe that's true. They're SISTERS, for God's sake…"

"None of Bubbles' boyfriends lasted long, think about it…"

"What are you guys talking about? This is obviously a fake, guys…"

"How can you even think that this is true? This is obviously a sick joke…"

When she arrived at her class, she finally saw what they were talking about. And she froze.

On the door to her class someone had affixed dozens of pictures of her and Buttercup, which had been cut out from newspaper. Most were quite old, some were even from their childhood, and every single one showed her and Buttercup being very close. On some photographs she herself could be seen hugging a mostly annoyed looking Buttercup, others showed them holding hands or doing high fives, on some they were simply laughing together. And on top of all of them there was a photograph from the day before. Some guy had taken a photo of the moment, where they she had been hugged Buttercup after the fight with the chicken monster. You couldn't see Buttercup's face, her Bubbles was smiling. And beneath all the pictures someone had affixed small sentences. Sentences that transformed all these innocent pictures into something… nasty. Sentences like "Sibling's love or more?" or "Sisters or lovers?"

Most of the pupils had left when she had approached them, but some of them were still there, staring at her. She didn't even notice them. How could someone do this? WHO could do such a thing? Sure, there were normal people, no villains, that didn't like them too, few of them, but why would someone do something like that? Her eyes became wet.

"What the heck's going on here?" she suddenly heared Buttercups voice behind her. She turned her head just in time to see Buttercup stop dead in her tracks. But unlike Bubbles she didn't stay like that. Her face turned red from anger and she growled. All the pupils left in the hallway hastily tried to leave, but Buttercup grabbed one poor guy's shirt and pulled him close.

"What – fucking – sick – freak – did – this?" she snarled. The guy was pale like a ghost. He swallowed.

"I… I don't know…"

"WHO?" she yelled and her eyes started to burn with energy.

"Buttercup!" Bubbles shouted, finally able to move again. She grabbed Buttercups wrist and squeezed it. "Buttercup, let him go! He doesn't know!"

"Yeah, you should do what Bubbles says" they suddenly heard another familiar voice behind them. "Or you might hurt somebody."

Buttercup let go of the guy, turned around and in the next second she had pinned Blossom against the wall. Bubbles looked at them, shocked. Buttercups was breathing hard, green energy was completely covering her eyes. She looked like she was in a battle… ready to beat her enemy up mercilessly. And Blossom was glaring at Buttercup with this scary, icy glance, her hands gripping Buttercups wrists, a cruel smile on her lips.

"You", Buttercup glowed, her voice thick with rage. "You did this!"

"Oh, but why would I do that, dear sister?" Blossom asked, her voice sounding amused. "Why should I do something like that to my own flesh and blood?"

"Shut up!" Buttercup yelled, pressing her sister against the wall harder. „I don't know WHY you did this, but now you've done it! I'm gonna…"

It happened very fast. In one moment Buttercup was still holding Blossom, and in the next one she was flying through the hallway, landing next to Bubbles' feet, hard. Bubbles was staring at Blossoms right hand, where the energy ball had come from. She couldn't believe that this was happening. These were her sisters, and they were fighting each other – with all their strength!

"Stop!" she cried, her voice shaking. She pointed at the door. "Blossom… is that what you think we are?"

The girl shrugged. "Maybe" she admitted. „But who cares? Tell you something, Bubbles, when we both start college, I'm gonna have a single room." She glared at her. "Cause I don't wanna live with you anymore. Or you, Buttercup."

„Blossom, this is crazy" Bubbles tried to reason. „Why do you think we…?"

In the next moment Blossoms fist collided with Bubbles' stomach. The blonde girl gasped and fell to the ground, holding her stomach. Blossom hadn't hit her with full power, but still hard enough to interrupt her speech.

"You talk too much, Bubbles" she heard Blossoms voice. "I'll tell you one last time: I don't want to be bothered by you two anymore before I move out! From now on the Powerpuff Girls aren't anymore!"

"You BITCH!"

Buttercup yanked Blossom away from the now crying Bubbles and the two started fighting again. Bubbles couldn't believe anything of all that. This could only be a nightmare! Blossom would never use such cruel methods, least of all against her own sisters! But her stomach was still hurting and she was still hearing the noises of Blossoms and Buttercups fight. There was something terribly wrong here, but what?

"Girls! Buttercup! Blossom! Stop this immediately!"

Bubbles looked up. Her sisters had stopped fighting. They were standing up, still glaring at each other. But at least Mrs. Jones, one of their teachers, had managed to stop them. Bubbles shuddered when she imagined what they could have done to the building if they had started using their superpowers.

"What is wrong with you two? Fighting in school… detention for both of you, for the whole week, starting today after your classes. Understood?"

"Yes, Mrs. Jones."

„Understood."

They were still glaring at each other.

"Good. Go to your classes. And don't dare to resume fighting or, being protectors of the city or not, you're gonna be expelled! You could have seriously hurt other kids!"

"It won't happen again, Mrs. Jones."

"Yeah, it won't."

"Good." The teacher nodded and looked at Bubbles. "Bubbles, are you alright? Who did this to you?"

"No one, Mrs. Jones" Bubbles hastily said. She stood up. Her stomach was hardly hurting anymore and she managed to keep a straight face. "It was just… an accident."

Mrs. Jones didn't seem to be convinced, but in that moment the bell started to ring, so she just sent them to their classes, glaring at Blossom and Buttercup one last time. The two girls left, not looking at each other anymore. Bubbles went to her class too, with wet eyes and a head full of questions. Why was Blossom acting so hostile? Why wouldn't she allow Bubbles or Buttercup to talk with her? Where did all that hate come from? It just didn't make any sense! Blossom had always been a rational girl, but right now she was acting very emotional. Something was definitely wrong! But if Blossom didn't want to talk to her, how should Bubbles find out what had happened to her?

* * *

I'm really not sure right now what will happen next, just have some ideas, so if you have any suggestions I'll consider them. Just review and tell me. 


	9. Professor Utonium: A dark mind

Sorry bout the german paragraphs in the last chapter. Won't happen again. And sorry bout the long pause, but I've got many things to do right now.

Isumo1489: I hope this chapter explains Blossoms violence somehow, even if I'm not sure it's a good explanation. Once again, you decide.

The Wandering Puff: Glad to see you again. Maybe I can fill your mind again with a new chapter.

PPG isn't mine and it's better that way - the girls would kill me!

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**Professor – A dark mind**

The day had already started in a strange way. While Bubbles and Buttercup seemed to have settled their differences – they had even smiled at each other when they had thought he wouldn't see it – Blossom still seemed to have a grudge on them. He had been quite glad when Bubbles had greeted Buttercup warmly at breakfast, and he had been astounded when Buttercup had returned the greeting in the same way, not with her usual grumbling. It had taken quite a load off his mind to see that his girls were getting along again. He hadn't been aware of how dark the atmosphere in this house had been in the last time.

But then there had been a pink flash and Blossom had left the house. Without greeting them, without eating breakfast, without taking her lunchbox with her. And he had known immediately that not all problems had been solved. Bubbles' sad face and Buttercups frown had told him enough. He had just sighed and told himself to be patient. He hadn't asked Bubbles and Buttercup about their talk. He knew that it had been very private, and he wasn't really interested. All that mattered was that they could now start to trust each other again. And they would need to trust each other… especially when they would be fighting such a cunning villain like HIM. So he had just forced a smile and talked about minor things, trying to lift the mood a bit.

From what he could see now that had been a waste of time. He was busy with cleaning up the living room – there was still very much dust from the fight – when Bubbles and Buttercup came back from school. Two hours late. Buttercup didn't even look at him, she just floated up to her room, entered it and slammed the door shut. The Professor winced. The lock had already been in a pretty bad shape before, but now it seemed that the door was completely broken. The look in the eyes of the black-haired girl had been quite frightening, but that wasn't unheard of. It might be a little surprising because she had been in such a good mood in the morning, but he should have known that this wouldn't last forever.

He was far more concerned about his second daughter. Bubbles had been right behind her sister, but in contrast to Buttercup the blonde girl shut the front door silently. She floated to the sofa and sat down without a word. She didn't even greet him, which was very uncommon. Even Bubbles had been sad before, but most of the times she had tried to uphold a smiling face in front of him and not to bother him with her personal problems. This time she didn't only seem to be sad… she looked depressed. Drained of all happiness and tired. She didn't look like Bubbles at all. He didn't even think that she had looked that hopeless during the worst fights of Buttercup and Blossom. Sad yes, but not that hopeless. What in the world had happened to them?

"Bubbles?" he asked carefully, putting the vacuum cleaner away. "What happened?"

"Wha… oh, Professor" she exclaimed, finally noticing him. "Uhh… nothing."

He didn't even bother to answer. Bubbles knew herself that she was and had always been a terrible liar. He just sat down next to her, waiting patiently. She blushed.

"Did… someone call you, Professor?" she asked him nervously. "A teacher?"

"No" he told her, staying calm. "Why would someone from school call me, Bubbles? Was there a battle?"

"Kind of" she mumbled, looking away. Her face became sad again. "Buttercup and me… had got into trouble. With Blossom."

"With Blossom?" The Professor frowned. „Why, Bubbles?"

„She…" Bubbles winced. „She embarrassed us in front of everyone at school. She spread the baseless rumor that… Buttercup and I… _liked _each other."

He blinked. "But you _do_like each other, don't you?" he asked her, confused.

Bubbles grimaced. "Well, she spread the rumor that we like each other… more than sisters, Professor."

Now he understood. His eyes grew wide. But he still couldn't believe it. "You mean…"

"_Yes, _dad" Bubbles said, sounding quite frustrated now. Her eyes were getting wet, and he didn't know if these were sad or angry tears. "She told everyone that Buttercup and I were _lovers!_"

"Honey…" he began, but then he stopped. He couldn't believe Blossom would do such a thing. "Are you sure that Blossom did that to you? I mean, this doesn't sound like her at all."

"I know that it's a cheap trick to ruin our reputation" Bubbles replied, crossing her arms. "And I would have never assumed Blossom could do such a thing… but she did. Really."

"Okay, let's assume Blossom did it, Bubbles" he responded. He didn't want to push her any further, she seemed to be on the brink of tears. "But _why?_"

"I don't know" Bubbles mumbled, shaking her head. "We asked her that question ourselves. But she didn't answer. All she told us was, that she didn't want to live with us anymore."

"Bubbles, this is ridiculous!" the Professor objected carefully. "I know that you three had problems, but I thought you were _afraid_ of each other."

"I thought so too" Bubbles answered him, looking at the floor in front of her, lost in deep thoughts. "And it was like that with me and Buttercup at least. And I think with Blossom too… she has been so dark only today."

"Dark?" The Professor raised an eyebrow.

Bubbles looked up to him, irritated. Then she seemed to remember something. "Oh, sorry, Professor. Do you remember the time when I told you that my special power had changed?"

He thought back. Yes, Bubbles had talked to him about that, a few years ago. She had been really excited. It was something about… empathy. "Vaguely", he admitted.

She pointed on her forehead. "I'm able to sense strong emotions emitted by other people nearby, Professor. Just like I'm able to learn any language by copying the grammar and vocabulary in the head of my dialog partner. And when we talked with Blossom today… well, I felt her emotions. She was incredibly angry, Professor. And somehow… hurt." She shuddered. „But most of her mind was… dark. Like a big cloud that obliterates the sun."

„What do you mean with ,dark', honey?" he asked, puzzled. "Isn't anger a dark feeling?"

"I don't… see it that way, Professor" she corrected him. "I've seen anger many times. It's a strong, overwhelming feeling. But the main part of her mind is… dark. It's like a shield – nothing gets out and nothing gets in. Except her anger."

The Professor scratched his head. "Sweetie, I'm not sure if I can follow you" he admitted. "Do you mean that Blossom is controlled by someone else?"

"I don't know." Bubbles shook her head. „I've never felt something like that before. It could be, that she's just too stubborn to think of something else than her anger."

"Well, I guess I should at least talk with her" he said. "From what you told me she is just mad at you and Buttercup. Maybe we will tell me what's wrong."

"Sure, dad" Bubbles agreed. She didn't look convinced. "Maybe she will do."

"Now come on, Bubbles" he said and ruffled her hair. "You've passed through so many dangers! Don't tell me that you will give up now!"

She forced a smile. "Of course I won't, dad" she told him and gave him a quick hug. Then she began to float and headed for the stairs. The smile had already vanished.

"Although this may be a little trickier than many other dangers you've faced" the Professor mumbled and lightened up his pipe. He made himself comfortable. He wasn't sure when Blossom would come home… but he wasn't sure either what he should ask her. Honey, would you mind telling me why you hate your sisters? He was quite sure that this would be a long day… and maybe night. Well, at least he had some time to think about what he would discuss with Blossom.

* * *

It was nearly midnight when Blossom opened the door to her home. She was quite satisfied, even though she had experienced her first detention in school. Maybe it had been a bit careless to show Bubbles and Buttercup what she knew… but at least there wouldn't be any misunderstandings anymore. They knew that she knew that they had broken a taboo, and they knew that she hated them for doing that. So they could just avoid each other. Yes, it was better that way, she didn't want them to bug her anymore, asking her questions like "Why are you so cold?" or something like that. Ha! As if they didn't know what they had done! They would have ruined the reputation of their family anyhow! Somehow the media would have found out and then everyone would have been shocked and disgusted, the little experiment at school proved it.

Okay, most of the guys in school hadn't believed the allegation, but there had been no evidence of course. But if there had been an article in the newspaper, they would have believed it. And then everyone would have been disgusted of them, no one would have cared about the little fact that Blossom had done nothing! Yes, it was better to cut all connections with them as soon as possible.

She smirked. Besides… it had been fun to see the looks on their faces. They had been surprised, oh yes! And shocked that their dirty little secret had been exposed. Buttercup had been so completely furious… furious that even with all her tremendous strength she could do nothing to stop a rumor. She had been helpless. And Bubbles' hurt expression had been very satisfying too. She had never felt this way before… such grim satisfaction. Sure, there was still a part of her being which told her, that no personal pain could justify this look on her sisters face. That maybe, probably they hadn't intended to hurt her with their secret. That this move had been dirty, so nothing like her.

But this part was shrinking. They had hurt her, and they would have hurt her even more if someone else had found out about their dirty little love affair. So it was her right to hurt them too, her head told her. That was logical. And she had always been logical.

"Hello, honey" she was suddenly greeted from inside. She stopped dead in her tracks. "You're quite late."

What was he still doing here? Had he been waiting for her. Yes, probably. She forced a smile. „Oh, Professor" she said. „You're still up?"

„I could ask you the same thing, Blossom" he told her. He didn't look angry or sad or anything like that, she just continued staring at her. Like he was searching for something. "You could have told me that you would come home late. You missed dinner, you know."

"Oh, Professor, I'm sorry." She looked down, feeling a little bit guilty. After all this weren't her sisters, this was the Professor. He hadn't hurt her. „I forgot. I spent quite much time in the library, then I patrolled in town for an hour or so, then…"

"You don't have to answer to me, Blossom" the Professor interrupted her, showing her a faint smile. "You are a big girl now, aren't you? You can make your own decisions. I would have just liked to know, that's all."

Blossom blushed a little, but at the same time she was grateful. The Professor understood. He knew that this was her life, that she could take care of herself. That she didn't have to stay with her sisters anymore. "Thanks, Professor. Next time I'll tell you, I promise."

He smiled at her, but it didn't look totally satisfied. "Alright, honey. But there is still something I'd like to discuss with you."

Blossom bit her lip. "It's about school, isn't it?" she sighed. "Mrs. Jones called you, didn't she?"

"That's part of it, yes" he agreed and blew a smoke ring. "And I had a rather strange talk with Bubbles. Sit down, Blossom. Please."

For a moment she pondered if she should do it or if she should just float up to her room. But she would have to talk to the Professor eventually. So why not now? So she just sat down next to him.

"So?" the Professor continued. „What happened, Blossom? Why did you spread those… rumors about your sisters?"

_Rumors! If you only knew_, she thought. She sighed. "Look, Professor, I know it was exaggerated and the school was the completely wrong place, but I was so frustrated, so angry and… I guess I just couldn't stand to see them happy again, talking to each other again, while I was left out…"

"But why are you so angry at them, Blossom?" he interrupted her. "I knew that you all had a hard time with each other, but I had never the impression that you were truly angry at each other. Didn't you want to share a room with Bubbles in college?"

Blossom grimaced. "Not anymore" she told him firmly. „Professor, I just realized that there is too much frustration between me and them, too much pain… I can't even look at them anymore without being reminded of these years where we were drifting apart slowly." She sighed and looked at her father apologetically. "Please, dad, I know that what I did was wrong, but… I still think that it would be better if I kept my distance from them for a while. You know, to calm down a bit before I try to talk to them again." She smiled sadly. "Maybe it's even a chance for me and Bubbles… to learn to stand on our own feet."

"Honey, don't you think that you're giving up too fast?" the Professor asked her. "I mean, Buttercup and Bubbles managed to solve their problems too…"

"Yeah, I know, Professor" she interrupted him. He wasn't quite sure, didn't she sound… disgusted? But then her voice became soft again. "Please, I don't really want to talk about them right now. I just think that I need some space… right now it's nearly unbearable for me to look at them. I don't want to hate them, Professor, but I'm afraid I will eventually, if I don't live without them for a while."

"If you think so" the Professor said, not really sounding convinced. He was still looking at her in this strange way. "Did they even tell you that HIM was here, Blossom? Here, in this house?"

Blossoms eyes grew wide. „HIM?" she asked, surprised. „Here? What did he want?"

„Me" the Professor answered bluntly. "He told me that you three had problems, that would eventually drive you apart. And that if he took me away from you, that would happen for sure." He told her about the nightmares. She seemed to be interested, but not shocked. "Don't you think that your behaviour towards your sisters could be one of his plans, honey?"

"No", she told him, shaking her head. "I'm sorry, Professor. I will be careful from now on, but these feelings within me have been growing for years. HIM has nothing to do with them." She made a pause. "Did he really hurt Bubbles?"

"Yes" he answered her. „He knocked her out completely, honey."

"I didn't know." She was looking on the floor, like Bubbles. "I'll apologize to her tomorrow."

"But you still want to move out, don't you?"

"Yes." She nodded and suddenly hugged the surprised Professor. "Professor, this has nothing to do with you. I still love you, and I will always love you, but I really think that I need this time-out. Every time I've been with Bubbles or Buttercup in the last time I became frustrated. I really need to get away from them for a while before trying to work things out. Can you understand that?"

He sighed and patted her head. "Yes, Blossom, I understand. I'm not glad about it, but I understand. If you really think that our family would break apart otherwise, then you should probably try to live alone." He looked at her. "Do you really think it's necessary?"

"Yes, dad" she said quietly. She smiled at him. "Thank you."

"It's okay, honey" he told her. "But you should at least try to get along with your sisters until college starts, okay?"

"Of course I will, daddy." She kissed him on the cheek and began to float. "Believe me, it's best that way."

"I really hope so, Blossom."

"Nighty night, Professor."

"Goodnight, Blossom."

* * *

"My, my, what a naughty little thing Blossom is" HIMs feminine voice announced, reverberating in his lair. He had watched the whole dialog with Blossom and the Professor in his TV, and he had enjoyed every second of it. He put the microphone aside. "Just a few little hints, that the Professor would be crushed if she told him that she hated her sisters, and ta-daaa!" His voice became high-pitched. "She is willing to lie to his face!"

He grinned maniacally. He would have never dreamt that things could work out this well, after this brat Buttercup had chased him away. He would have never dreamt that it would be _Blossom,_the leader of the Powerpuff Girls, the girl with the brains, who would be so easy to fool. He would have bet on Bubbles, maybe even Buttercup, but Blossom… this would be a dream come true, if he would sleep.

He had continued to talk to Blossom after this fateful dialog, when he had convinced her to hate her sisters. He had continued talking to her, and meanwhile he had closed her mind. Slowly. Every little suggestion, every little hint that remembered her of her sisters lying in bed together – what a wonderful wrong conclusion that was! – had darkened her mind. The more her disgust at her sisters grew, the easier it had been to suppress every rational thought in her brain, that could probably make her scrutinize the whole situation. And no rational argument from the outside would be able anymore to break his control over the Powerpuff girl!

"Sorry, Professor" he said gleefully. "But you are a little late! Blossom isn't thinking rationally anymore, and I am in control of her emotions! Oh, it is so hard to corrupt those who believe in law and…" He snorted. "… _good_like Blossom did." He grinned. „And now look at her! She practically invited me to take over her mind." His eyes narrowed as he looked at the Professor on the monitor. "Just a little longer, Professor" he told the image. "Just a little longer and your little girl will completely belong to…" His voice became male and evil. "ME!"

* * *

Well, what will happen now... I really don't know. I guess it'll end soon, but I still don't know how to get there. 


	10. Buttercup: Facing the enemy

Again... sorry for the delay, but I just didn't know what to write anymore. There has to be an end, but I don't know if the one I'm thinking of will be good enough. We'll see...

Isumo1489: Should I really tell you how it will work out? Who would read my story then? Don't be disappointed, but I don't plan a showdown with many special effects... more of a psychological one, even if I'm not that good with these things. We'll see how it will work out.

PPG should belong to everyone, so that everyone can torture them like I do! But sadly enough, they belong to Craig McCracken.

* * *

**Buttercup –**** Facing the enemy**

Buttercup cursed, frustrated. Had she really thought that the time, where she and her sisters were slowly drifting apart, had been frustrating? Oh, she hadn't even known what frustrating meant! Yes, it had been a hard time, every second of it. After all she had been blaming herself for their wrecked relationship, and she had had no idea of how to tell them what she had done. But at least she had known back then, that it was her own fault.

But in the current situation she didn't know what she had done wrong. She had quite some experience in being scolded for something she had actually done. After all she was Buttercup. She had been scolded by nearly everyone, by the Professor of course, by Blossom, by Miss Keane and other teachers, and so on. Of course she hadn't liked it… but at least she had been able to understand WHY she had been scolded! But she didn't know what the hell she had done to Blossom to deserve her sister's cold shoulder!

After the Professor had told her and Bubbles, that he had talked with Blossom and that he was quite sure, that their red-haired sister's behaviour would become normal again soon, she and Bubbles had been quite relieved. Although while she hadn't been entirely convinced, Bubbles had immediately visited Blossoms room to talk to her. Buttercup would never forget the face of her blonde sister when she had returned. It had been pale, her eyes had been watching the floor – it was like if she had seen a ghost. Buttercup had known immediately, that nothing between them and Blossom had changed.

It had taken her nearly 20 minutes to finally make Bubbles tell her what had happened. Nothing extraordinary, or so you'd think. Blossom had just told her, that she was sorry for embarrassing them in school, that she hadn't known about HIMs attack and that she wouldn't do anything else to upset her sisters. Bubbles would have been quite relieved, if it hadn't been for Blossoms eyes. They had still been cold, not really glaring at her sister, but showing no such thing as guilt or friendly warmth. And the next words Blossom had spoken had confirmed her suspicion.

"So you can relax, Bubbles" Blossom had told her, a fake smile on her face. "I won't do anything… but I expect you to do the same." She had ignored Bubbles' confused look. "You see, I don't want you to enter my room again, Bubbles. You AND Buttercup. I will greet you and sometimes even talk to you in front of the Professor, and of course I will help you fighting monsters, but that doesn't change anything. We WILL go separate ways once we enter college. I don't want to disappoint the Professor, so we should all act like everything was okay between us, but don't try to talk with me about our… problem again. There is nothing more to talk. Leave now, Bubbles."

Bubbles had been completely shocked. Buttercup could understand why. Her own sister telling her such a thing with a calm expression… it must have been creepy. In this moment Buttercup wanted nothing more but going upstairs and knock some sense into this cruel little redhead! Yet still there was a feeling inside of her that overpowered her growing anger. Surprise. Because from one second to another Bubbles suddenly started crying and threw herself into Buttercups arms.

She asked herself why she was surprised. After all she had known Bubbles as a crybaby for so long. But in these strange last days her sister had been so different… strong-willed, even a little wise, and… mature. She had completely forgotten how Bubbles had been in the past, being a real child or acting. Yes, acting… for one moment she had asked herself, if Bubbles was acting again… if she was lying again. But she dismissed this thought immediately, a little ashamed. Bubbles would never make this mistake again, she was sure of that. Buttercup wondered how long it would take them to regain their complete trust.

Anyway, she had really thought that the world had completely changed, that she was a coward and Bubbles was the tough one. But that wasn't true… not entirely. Bubbles could be tough. She could be mature. She could be the right person to analyze your problems and tell you how to set things right. The problem was the word "could". She was able to become such a person, but Buttercup had been wrong. Bubbles wasn't able to be tough all the time, like Buttercup herself had been pretending to be. Deep inside she was still a girl that wanted to trust, to rely on others. She didn't want to be strong all the time, she wanted to be "the joy and the laughter", the one, that supported the ones with the responsibility with all her strength, the one that cheered you up all the time. But not the one that wanted to lead… or to stay alone.

Somehow Buttercup was… relieved. She had been quite glad that Bubbles had finally grown up, that she wasn't a ditzy, naïve little girl anymore, that she had found the strength to help her sister to face her fear. But she had been a little sad too… because it had seemed like the "old" Bubbles, the carefree and lighthearted Bubbles, had disappeared. That the sister she had known for so long wasn't anymore. But now she knew… she knew that the little girl was still inside of this body, which was currently wetting her T-shirt with tears.

When the heck had she become such a softie? Ten years ago she'd have done nearly anything to make Bubbles a little more mature… and now she was actually glad, that a part of her sister was still this annoying crybaby. She sighed and absent-mindedly patted Bubbles' back. Being strong or being weak like now… she somehow had the feeling, that she would need Bubbles' help in the following weeks, if she didn't want to strangle Blossom.

* * *

She had been right. She had been so right. It was hell.

Buttercup didn't really know how she had survived these final weeks in school. When they were at home, Blossom would be friendly, politely asking them for salt at dinner, helping them with their chores, wishing them a good night… everything just to please the Professor, to deceive him! It was unbelievable to Buttercup, why the Professor couldn't HEAR the deceit pouring out of Blossoms words… or SEE the malicious glee in every single gaze she gave her sisters! He thought that everything was alright again, just because they were around each other again, but it was far worse than before!

At least she had had an obvious reason to be mad at Blossom back then! When she had put on this show at the classroom door, it had been clear to everyone why Buttercup had been blind with rage. But now everyone was thinking that the Powerpuff Girls were of one mind again, and no one would understand if she attacked this red-haired bitch. The Professor would probably even scold her, AND SHE WOULD HAVE WON, DAMNIT! SHE WOULD BE THE POOR LITTLE GIRL AND BUTTERCUP WOULD BE THE HOTHEADED JERK!

Blossom was doing really well. She used all of her genius that had been so useful in their fights against villains, just now she used it to fool everyone around her. She made everyone think that she loved her sisters, but at the same time she was telling Bubbles and Buttercup how much she still despised them. With glances, a mocking tone of voice or even being in the same room with them, knowing exactly how mad Buttercup got when she did that!

Honestly, the only thing that saved this she-devil from Buttercups divine judgement was Bubbles. Like she had finally noticed all these weeks ago, Bubbles was the one lending strength to others. Strength to endure painful times. Or just strength to keep yourself under control, when you're about to burst. Buttercup knew, if it hadn't been for Bubbles, she would have tried to strangle Blossom even before the last days in school… well, maybe that wouldn't have been that bad, considering that their situation was getting worse with each day, but at least Bubbles had kept her from attacking Blossom with all her power. Because no matter how mad she was, no matter what Blossom did – Buttercup would never forgive herself, if she seriously hurt one of her sisters in a rage.

And the strangest thing was, Bubbles didn't do anything extraordinary. All she did was… being with Buttercup. Like a sister. They were spending much of their free time together, even if they were completely different people. Buttercup would accompany Bubbles on shopping sprees or simple walks through the park. Bubbles would watch Buttercup making stunts and doing sports, sometimes extreme sports – and she would even try some, just to be with her sister. But most of the time all they did was… talking. They talked about school. They talked about their friends. They talked about the future, and of course they talked about their situation with Blossom too. And it was strange, every time when they were talking, Buttercup could feel herself relax. True, there were still times when Bubbles was a little naïve or simply clueless, but unlike in the past Buttercup didn't get angry anymore. Annoyed yes, but not angry. Because these were the things that made Bubbles human, contrary to her superhuman ability to look into Buttercups mind.

It didn't even scare her anymore that Bubbles could read her emotions. They had found out that it was easier for Bubbles to do that, when Buttercup opened her mind to her. It had taken a little while to get that far, but Buttercup knew deep inside that she would still be a wreck, if Bubbles hadn't broken her door open some weeks ago. It was somehow… relieving not being forced to hide things anymore. Bubbles knew that Buttercup wouldn't like to have an invader in her mind all the time, so she had promised her not to dive deep, just looking at the general mood of Buttercup once in a while. Buttercup didn't mind, if it meant that Bubbles would immediately know when she was pissed and ready to calm her down. Or cheer her up when she was frustrated. "The joy and the laughter", indeed.

Some people were actually surprised that she and Bubbles were suddenly getting along so well. She had even heard some guys in school discussing if she and Bubbles had been gay all the time. And if they just didn't need to hide it anymore, because it was out now. These guys had been lucky, because Bubbles had been with her that time, and she had overheard the talk too. When they had noticed that she and Bubbles had been able to hear them, they had become pale. But Bubbles had just held her back and had asked them a few questions. Like if they would like her to leave Buttercup alone with them, because they seemed to think they shouldn't walk around together. That one had made Buttercup laugh. The guys had been quite rueful after a few more – serious – questions. Maybe this was a more effective way than intimidating people.

Them and all the other people didn't get the point – she and Bubbles weren't seen together that often now because they liked each other better. Okay, maybe they understood each other better and maybe she liked Bubbles a LITTLE better, but not enough to spend ALL of her free time with her sister. They did it to not be reminded of their situation at home. They had both lost someone and they needed to compensate this loss. Not that Blossom didn't want to be with them anymore – something both of them had been scared of for years – they needed to make sure that their own bond wouldn't break anymore.

Suddenly Buttercup was ripped out of her thoughts by the Powerpuff Phone. She already wanted to stand up and get it, since Blossom was in the library - well, when hadn't she been there in the last weeks? – but Bubbles was already there.

"What's wrong, Major? … WHAT? … In the library? Are you sure? … Yes, yes, of course. We're on our way."

"What's up?" Buttercup asked her, curiously eyeing her. Bubbles had a grim look on her face. Okay, that wasn't so uncommon after all they had been going through, but still… it was Bubbles. She faced her.

"It's HIM" she told her.

Buttercups eyes narrowed. Now those were good news. She had actually been feeling a little bit stressed. Some good workout was very welcome. "HIM? What is he doing in the library? Reading ,Paradise Lost' or ,Faust'?"

No smile on Bubbles' face. „The major didn't know" she answered her. "Just that HIM hasn't killed anyone… so far. And that he has been asking for us."

"Figures" Buttercup replied, shrugging. "I guess he wants a little rematch after I pummelled him last time. Well, should we go?"

Bubbles was looking at her a little worried. "Buttercup" she asked in a quiet voice. "You know that Blossom is in the library, don't you?"

Of course she knew. "So what?" she asked coolly. "She can defend herself."

"Do you really think that, Buttercup?" Oh, these damn eyes tearing right into her soul. "She is still our sister. She could be in danger."

"Why are we talking then?" Buttercup asked, getting a little angry. "She certainly hasn't been behaving herself like our sister in the last weeks!" But then she sighed and ruffled her hair. "Look Bubbles, I know you want her to forgive us whatever we've done to her in her imagination and stuff, but let's face it: In a few weeks you guys will go to college and she won't come back. She's gone. Can't you accept that?"

Bubbles looked miserably, biting into her lip.

"I guess you can't" Buttercup continued, a small smile on her lips. "That just wouldn't be you." She gently gripped Bubbles' shoulder and gave her an encouraging grin. "Come on, let's just get her out of trouble for now… and later you can still try to talk to her. Again."

"Okay" Bubbles accepted, forcing a small smile too. "Let's go."

* * *

"Hey, HIM!" Buttercup shouted, walking through the library doors. "Show yourself, you coward! What are you up to this time?"

"Do you really think that it is wise to march in like that?" Bubbles asked her, looking around nervously.

"Why not?" Buttercup asked back. „If it's really HIM I'm sure that he already knows that we're here."

"Sure, but you shouldn't call him names. He may have hostages."

"That's really not his style" Buttercup told her sister although no one could ever hope to understand HIM. Maybe taking hostages was part of his plan? Maybe even Blossom… Buttercup shook her head. Maybe Blossom wasn't even here. Not that she would care. Blossom had been an asshole for quite some time. Getting pummelled by somebody like HIM would maybe activate her brain again.

"Maybe" Bubbles agreed, but her voice was full of doubt. "But don't…?"

"HIM!" Buttercup shouted. She didn't want to think right now. She couldn't afford to worry. Had she really wanted to be the leader of the Powerpuff Girls once? The hell, she hadn't known anything. This was the ugly side of the responsibility. "Just tell us what the heck you want from us, so that we can kick your sorry ass!"

"What I want?" a feminine voice asked behind them. They turned around just to hear the heavy doors of the library close and see HIM standing in front of them. He was grinning. "I like you to come with me, girls."

"Where to?" Bubbles asked. She looked ready to fight. Good.

"For a place designed for young bratty teenagers that got into my way far too often" HIM told them, his eyes starting to burn. His claws clapped. "Hell, if you prefer to use human terms."

"Sorry" Buttercup replied dryly. "The Professor forbid us to take offers from older bad guys."

"Oh, it wasn't really an offer" HIM disagreed with her. His voice dropped, sounding male now. "It was a promise."

Buttercup snorted. This was SO melodramatic! „We don't give a shit about your promises, HIM. You should know that."

„I wasn't talking of one of my promises, dear Buttercup" HIM said, grinning maniacally. "Someone else promised me that you would be mine. Someone you know."

"Bullshit!" Buttercup exclaimed. „Like I'd…"

„Who?" Bubbles suddenly interrupted her. She had a terrified expression on her face. Did she know whom HIM was talking about? "Who told you that, HIM?"

"I did."

Buttercups eyes widened. Now she knew why Bubbles had been scared. She turned around as fast as she could. Still, even with her super vision she couldn't believe what her eyes told her.

„Blossom?" she heard Bubbles' choked voice. "Why…?"

Blossom looked strange. Not her appearance, she was still the pretty little redhead she had always been. But her eyes… they were strange. Not cold like they had been for months now. Not even full of burning hate, which would be unusual for her. No, they looked… dead. Like two glass beads that belonged to a doll, not a human. And her voice sounded like that too, monotone and disinterested.

"You know why I did it" she told her sisters. "You two are sinners. You need to be punished for your sins."

"Have you gone completely nuts?" Buttercup yelled. This was crazy… had Blossom really sold them to a demon? Not that she would believe in such crap, but still… "Like hell I will go with him!"

"Blossom, please talk with us" Bubbles pleaded. Her eyes were full of tears. "You can't really mean that. We are SISTERS!"

"Not anymore" Blossom countered, still in this dead voice. "Our days of sisterhood ended long ago."

"You're insane" Buttercup concluded, balling her fists. "Don't listen to her, Bubbles. We need to take out HIM, after that we can still knock some sense back into her…"

She was interrupted by Bubbles shocked cry. She turned her head again, but she couldn't believe what she saw… again. Blossom had attacked Bubbles, pressing her against one of the library walls. Bubbles' face was distorted with pain.

"It seems that Bubbles is indisposed right now" HIM interjected sardonically. He seemed to enjoy this. Buttercup clenched her teeth. This was HIS fault! It had to be! „I guess it's just the two of us now, Buttercup." His grin faded. "And this time you won't be able to catch me off guard."

"We'll see about that" Buttercup retorted and cracked her knuckles. "You know, I think you made your first mistake, HIM! I'm quite anxious to break some bones right now. And Bubbles is far more capable of bringing Blossom back to her senses than I am."

"Oh?" HIM asked mockingly. „Do you really think that? I thought you were the one that told Bubbles so many times, that she was the weak point of the team."

"Maybe" she agreed, getting into fighting stance. "But you already underestimated her once, do you remember? The chalk thing? And you are wrong. Your dreams made me weak and Blossom insane… but they only made Bubbles stronger. If someone can safe Blossom, than it's her. But enough talking." She made the „Come on"-gesture with her hand. „It's time to kick your butt back to hell, HIM!"

HIM just snorted. And attacked.

* * *

I guess it will be two more chapters. I just want this to end soon, I've got too much to do. 


	11. Bubbles: Revealing the truth

Whoa! I feel kinda overwhelmed by the sheer amount of reviewers! Too bad that there'll only be one more chapter after this one... 

Isumo1489: Many thanks again to my all-time-favourite-reviewer. Like I told you, there will be more talking than fighting in this chapter (boy, fighting is hard to describe if you're writing in a foreign language). Maybe you would have want the end to be a little darker, but I'll wait for your review, you can tell me there. And yes, I WILL finish it. But it may take some time again to write the last chapter.

Jet Warrior: Thanks! Yes, I also think that there are too few fanfics out there, that really try to show the girls' thoughts and emotions. Mind-manipulation and misunderstandings are SO entertaining!

June-Avatar11: Soon enough?

Dracori: Quality work? blush Ah no, it's not that good, but still thanks! Yes, the POVs are quite entertaining to write, although I still like the first three chapters best - it's so cool to write the stream of consciousness of your favourite charas! All of you should try too once, it's entertaining! Oh yes, beginning quotes and apostrophes are a remnant of German - MS Word is always changing languages for some reason. Thanks for the apostrophe-tip, I really forgot that this is different in English. I'll try to remember now.

These are MY twisted Powerpuff Girls, but the original ones aren't mine. But one day my PPGs will overpower the original ones and take over their show, and then THE WORLD WILL BE MINE!

* * *

**Bubbles ****– Revealing the truth**

To say that she was shocked would have been an understatement. Okay, Blossom had already attacked her in school, but this was just insane! Her sister was really determined to help HIM, HIM of all people, defeating Buttercup and her! And maybe not _just _defeating them…

"Blossom!" she cried, trying to free herself from Blossom's grip. "What are…?"

"Quiet!" her sister hissed. Bubbles groaned when the wall of anger inside of Blossom's head repelled her. Nevertheless she was sure that she had felt a glimpse of different, suppressed emotions, buried behind this wall. This didn't fit to these eyes at all! Seeing these dead spots had given her a chill, strong enough to hinder her from noticing that Blossom had been starting an attack. How could someone with such emotionless eyes still have so strong feelings? "It's time for you to pay for your sins! It's your own fault, Bubbles!"

Bubbles cried when Blossom suddenly yanked her close, pirouetted once and hurled her against a bookshelf. The piece of furniture fell down, burying Bubbles with books, but the blonde girl pushed it away from her a second later. Something like this would never be able to hurt her, but nonetheless she was afraid. If Blossom was angry enough to destroy the library while fighting, then she wouldn't hold back. She would attack Bubbles with everything she'd got, if Bubbles tried to restrain her or help Buttercup. Bubbles licked her lips nervously. She really didn't want to fight her sister… but her other sister needed her help!

"I don't want to hurt you, Blossom" she told her red-haired sister and got into fighting stance. "I don't know why you are doing this, but I won't leave Buttercup alone with HIM!"

"Buttercup!" Blossom growled. To Bubbles it seemed like some emotion flared up in Blossom's empty eyes. Anger of course. "Yes, she is all you can think of, isn't that right, Bubbles? You make me SICK!"

Bubbles jumped and grabbed Blossom's hands, but the redhead was prepared. She hissed again, pressed her foot against Bubbles' stomach and pushed her sister away forcefully. Bubbles was thrown back onto the pile of books, feeling dizzy for one moment. And that was enough for Blossom to get close and kick on her sister's stomach again. Bubbles could only produce a choked sound, but then she began to feel a little angry too. Maybe Blossom was controlled by HIM, maybe Bubbles should help her, but that didn't mean she wasn't allowed to defend herself!

She grabbed Blossom's foot and twisted it, so that Blossom lost her balance and fell down with a surprised cry. Bubbles immediately threw herself onto Blossom, pinning the other girl to the ground. It wasn't an easy task, since Blossom tried to free herself with all her power, muttering curses all the time. Bubbles used this time to throw a glance at Buttercup and HIM.

It didn't seem to be TOO bad… well, at least it wasn't as bad as she had feared it would be. Buttercup seemed to be angry enough to fight equally with the demon. Right now she was attacking HIM from above, smashing him into the ground. But this time HIM was prepared for the attack, he just screamed angrily – in his male voice, Bubbles noticed worriedly – grabbed Buttercups leg, much like Blossom had done with Bubbles before, and hurled her away. Bubbles held her breath for a moment, but concern was without any reason. In the next second a green flash sent HIM flying against the wall, leaving a hole behind.

Maybe she shouldn't have watched them for so long. Blossom used this opportunity and rolled around, breaking Bubbles' grip and kicking her away again. Bubbles was barely able to stabilize herself right before she would have crashed into the ceiling of the building, but Blossom changed that, when she rammed her and drove Bubbles' body into the wall. Bubbles choked again, tears from the dust and of pain in her eyes, and she sank to the ground. Strangely enough Blossom didn't try to attack her this time. Bubbles looked around, breathing heavily. There she was. Blossom was standing right in front of her, her arms crossed, her face emotionless again.

"You just couldn't help it, Bubbles, could you?" Blossom suddenly asked her. "You just HAD to look at Buttercup again."

"Of… course I had to" Bubbles agreed, her voice still sounding hoarse, and slowly rose from the ground, trying not to provoke Blossom. "She is… my sister."

"Ah, cut that crap!" Blossom said, clearly looking disgusted now. "I'm your sister too, but I bet you wouldn't have looked after me, if I was fighting with HIM right now."

"How… how can you say that?" Bubbles asked, tears forming in her eyes. How could her sister think, that Bubbles didn't care about her anymore? Just what had she done to deserve such an assumption? "You are an important person for me too… even if you are acting very strangely. Buttercup is just…"

She wasn't prepared for Blossom's outburst of fury. Not in the least. And she didn't expect the energy beam either, that hit her and threw her onto the scattered books for the third time.

"Oh yes, _Buttercup_!" Blossom spat, her voice now full of disgust. Her eyes were glowing. "It's always about her! You can't think of anyone else but her anymore, can you, Bubbles? Tell me, what is it that makes her so special? I really can't figure out, why you of all people would be attracted to someone like her."

"Blossom, this isn't true!" Bubbles argued despairingly. "There must be a reason, why you are thinking that… and why you are acting so strangely. Please, tell me why…"

"SILENCE!" Blossom shouted and shot another energy bolt at her. It didn't hurt Bubbles much, but some of the books around her caught fire. Bubbles jumped away from them. "Don't lie to me, Bubbles, I know it is true. You've always liked Buttercup better than me… I was the bossy one, the one giving orders, not an interesting rebel like her. And she has always been interested in you, even in our childhood. She was always picking on_you_, never on _me_!" She sneered. "Tell me, Bubbles… was it arousing to be bullied by her? Did you two hop into bed together because of that?"

It was hard. It was so hard to hear such cruel words from her own flesh and blood. She couldn't stop the tears anymore, but she desperately tried to uphold control over her voice. "How can you… think of us like that, Blossom?" she sobbed. "Why do you believe HIM more than your own family?"

"HIM is here to help us all" Blossom claimed. On her face there still was this absent-minded look… as if there was someone else speaking with her mouth. As if Blossom wasn't even thinking about the words, which were leaving her mouth. "He will take you away from this earth and punish you until you are cleansed of evil. And when you finally recognize, what an unnatural sin you and Buttercup have committed… when you are finished with atoning for your wrongs… then we can be a family again."

"Blossom, this is crazy!" Bubbles cried out. "HIM is a villain! He has done so many bad things! Why are you listening to him? He lied when he told you, that I and Buttercup are…"

In this moment she was interrupted by Blossom's attack. The girl grabbed Bubbles at her shoulders and threw her against another bookshelf, causing it to fall over and knock another one down. And while Bubbles was busy with freeing herself from the books and the bookshelf, Blossom had already gotten behind her and kicked Bubbles against the wall. The blonde girl groaned when her head hit the wall first. It wasn't as painful as HIM's attack some time ago, and she didn't fall to the ground because two hands were already under her shoulders, catching her fall. Still Bubbles was in a very dazed state, when Blossom pressed her against the wall with her own body and began to whisper in her ear.

"I don't want to talk about these things anymore, Bubbles" she told her in a quiet voice. "This is the right thing to do, and it will happen… you can fight and get hurt, but it won't change anything. Just give up."

It was very strange. Somehow Bubbles had to struggle to understand Blossom's words, even if the girl was right behind her… but it was easy, so easy to feel the other girl's emotions now. It was as if there had been some shield around Blossom's mind, which had been too strong to penetrate with a clear mind. But now, in this drunk-like state, it was no problem to look into Blossom's head and see all of her hidden emotions behind this wall of anger and determination. If Bubbles had been able to think straight, she might have been too shocked to say something… too shocked by the truth. Later, thinking of this event, she would call it fate that Blossom had hit her so hard.

"Do… you really think, that the pain will go away, Blossom?" Bubbles muttered, trying to regain her senses. She had seen enough. Now she had to break the walls of defense inside of her sister's mind, like she had done before with Buttercup. "Do you… think, that the pressure in your chest will vanish… if you send me and Buttercup away? … The only ones… that could possibly understand your pain?"

The warmth of Blossom's body on her back vanished. Bubbles could practically _feel_the shockwave inside of her sister's mind, fighting against the wall. Emotions… they were the key. Blossom couldn't be reached with logical arguments anymore. The anger inside of her mind, cultivated by HIM's intrigues, was too strong. She would just ignore anything, that contradicted with her own beliefs… like she had interrupted Bubbles' attempts to talk about HIM or the reason behind Blossom's belief, that her sisters loved each other more than sisters should. She had to remind Blossom of her real feelings, which had been replaced by the anger. That was the only way to shatter her point of view.

"How could you possibly understand me?" she heard Blossom ask. Was there uncertainty in her voice? "You're saying, that I'm in pain, but I'm not… and if I was, you'd be the cause!"

"Is that so?" Bubbles asked back. Her head was becoming clear again, so she took one last look into Blossom's mind, assuring herself, that she had seen everything necessary. It was much more difficult this time, but she wasn't allowed to make a single mistake now – or she would lose her last chance to help Blossom. "Or did you rather find something inside of yourself, which causes it?"

"SHUT UP!" Blossom screamed and hurled Bubbles away. The blonde girl flew down a hallway and landed on the ground. But she ignored the pain. She had to stay strong now. Her sister… her sisters needed her. She looked up. Blossom was staring at her with her eyes wide open, breathing heavily. "You know NOTHING! I HATE YOU!"

Even this outburst couldn't hurt Bubbles anymore, now that she knew the truth. She smiled sadly. "No, you don't" she responded. "This is just a facade. You made yourself think that you hate us, so you didn't have to think of your pain anymore. Because deep inside you know, that not _we_ are the true cause of it… but your own feelings."

"This is… not true!" Blossom's voice was much weaker now. She covered her head with her hands, looking to the ground. Bubbles' head was nearly clear again, so she couldn't look into Blossom's mind again… but she could see glimpses of the turmoil inside of her sister. It worked! The wall was crumbling! Blossom continued speaking, but Bubbles had the impression, that the red-haired girl didn't really address her. She rather seemed to speak to herself. "You two are sinners! I don't want to be with you anymore! I hate you! I… hate you!" The last two words were barely hearable.

"That's only partly true, Blossom, and we both know that." Bubbles spoke with a softer voice. Her words would awaken the pain in Blossom, and she didn't want to hurt her any more than necessary. "The rational, thinking part of you may be angry at us, because you convinced yourself, that Buttercup and I have done something completely forbidden. But this is just a reaction. A reaction to suppress the pain inside of your emotional, feeling part. The part of you that feels alone… abandoned… by the two closest beings in your life."

"Please… stop" Blossom whimpered. She fell onto her knees, her hands hiding her face. All of her determination had now faded away. "Stop it!"

"You felt betrayed, Blossom" Bubbles continued quietly, but mercilessly. "We are triplets. We have always been close to each other. And suddenly you see something that lets you believe, that your two sisters are much closer to each other than they are to you. And then your being is torn apart. Into a rational part that decides to hate us, because that can hide your pain..." Bubbles made a short pause. "The pain inside of your emotional part… the part that, even if it is wrong, wants to be loved as much as Buttercup and I love each other in your eyes."

"NO!" Blossom sobbed, shaking her head wildly. Her whole body was trembling now and tears had begun slipping through her fingers. "I don't want such a relationship! It's disgusting, it's wrong, it's unnatural…"

"I know" Bubbles assured gently. She crawled closer to Blossom. "That's the whole misery, Blossom. Your rational mind, your belief in law and order forbids you to do the one thing your heart is craving for… to share everything with your sisters again, to be on equal terms with them again by accepting and joining their relationship. You don't hate me or Buttercup, Blossom… you hate yourself for desiring something you don't _want_ to desire."

This time Blossom couldn't even answer anymore. She just broke down, crying fits tormenting her body. Bubbles' mouth went dry. She had done it! Blossom was finally facing the truth! But why did she feel so bad then?

"Blossom…" Bubbles whispered, warily reaching out and touching Blossom's hair. "_Even if_ this relationship really existed… what made you think, that I and Buttercup would love and trust you any less? Why do you think, that a love between close siblings is weaker than the feelings between lovers?"

"I…" Blossom sobbed. "I was… so scared…"

"All three of us were scared, Blossom" Bubbles told her, softly stroking her sister's hair. "I was afraid, that your fights with Buttercup would break our family apart. Buttercup was afraid, that we would leave her alone one day because of our boyfriends. But we did the one right thing, we talked to each other. We shared our worries and confessed our sins to each other… we regained our trust in each other, Blossom. _You_distanced yourself. You shared your pain with no one, and so it was able to grow every time you saw me and Buttercup together. And so HIM was able to manipulate you."

"HIM…"

In this moment they heard a scream of pain. They both looked to Buttercup and HIM. And Bubbles became pale. One of HIM's claws was clutching Buttercup's left wrist. The other one was pinning her sister to the wall, the tips of his pincers drilling into Buttercup's stomach. She was desperately trying to hold them back with her right hand, but her face was a mask of agony. Blood was flowing out of her mouth!

Bubbles' body acted like a machine. Her mind was too overwhelmed by the events to do something, so she just opened her mouth and let out a scream of pain and rage, all focused on HIM. Blossom had been wrong to isolate herself… but he was the one, who had turned her sister into a monster! She put every little ounce of strength inside of her body into this attack, her anger increasing it even more. The emotion-powered shockwaves caught HIM off guard and hurled him away like a leaf in the wind. He crashed through another wall, screaming in frustration. Buttercup simply sank to the ground, losing consciousness on the way. There was a wound on her stomach, not too deep, but it was bleeding. Bubbles felt guilty. She had left Buttercup alone. Of course it had been important to save Blossom, but it hadn't been right to leave Buttercup alone with a dangerous foe like HIM.

The villain groaned and sat up, shaking his head. Then his glance focused on Bubbles, glaring at her menacingly. "You!" he said in his male voice. "Your sister was right, I should have killed you first!"

"Blossom won't listen to you anymore!" Bubbles told him, looking for a sign of weakness. She was quite sure that Buttercup had been able to land a few good hits, but Bubbles herself was quite exhausted too – Blossom had fought her with all her power. But she had to protect Buttercup! … And Blossom too! "And I won't allow you to hurt Buttercup any further, HIM!"

"You really surprised me, little Bubbles" the villain said – now in his female voice again, though still in a menacing tone – and stood up. "I would have never thought that you would be able to break my control over Blossom. But it doesn't matter. You can't fight me anymore, little girl. You will die today, all three of you." He grinned at her.

Bubbles started another Sonic Scream, but this time HIM was prepared. He crossed his pincers in front of his body and braced himself against the attack. The shockwaves hit him directly, but they weren't nearly as strong as the last ones. He simply waited for the end of Bubbles' attack and grinned at the girl.

"I told you" he said. "You have lost. And now…" His voice became male again. "… prepare to DIE!"

He jumped at Bubbles, reaching out with his claws, ready to kill. Bubbles crossed her arms in front of her face and awaited the impact – but it never came. Instead of it she suddenly felt the temperature in the library sink in mere moments. A wave of perishing coldness brushed her left side and made her cry out in pain. She jumped aside and feverishly rubbed her frozen body parts, trying to force some warmth back into them. She looked up.

She couldn't see HIM anymore. In front of her there was a glittering ice scenery… books, bookshelves, the floor, the walls, everything was frozen. When she looked to the ground and saw many ice fragments there, she understood. HIM had been frozen in mid-air by this wave, just to fall down and shatter afterwards. There were still traces of red smoke around the broken pieces. Bubbles doubted that the villain was dead… maybe he couldn't die, but he had certainly vanished.

She turned her head. Blossom was panting. There were still tears on her face, now frozen on her skin. The anger, which had triggered this outburst, was disappearing from her face now, leaving sadness behind. Blossom tore her glance away from the shattered pieces and looked at Bubbles. Bubbles could see that Blossom was still full of pain… but the redhead already tried to get a grip on herself again. She pointed behind the remains of HIM.

"Help… Buttercup!" she managed to say though all the panting.

"But Blossom…" Bubbles started. She was torn. She didn't want to leave Blossom behind… now that she had finally got her sister back. But Buttercup needed her help too…

"GO!" Blossom shouted, but in the next moment she was seized by a coughing fit. Fresh tears ran down her cold face. When the fit was over, she continued, her voice sounding sore: "Please, Bubbles… help Buttercup."

Bubbles looked at her, but eventually she nodded. She flew to Buttercup, carefully lifted her injured sister from the ground – which had fortunately been spared from the ice blast – and levitated out of the library. Just when she was about to leave the building, she threw one final look at Blossom. Her sister was lying on the ground in fetal position, crying her heart out. Nevertheless Bubbles had to smile. Her sister had returned… both of her sisters had returned to her side. An hour ago she wouldn't have dreamt, that something like that would ever happen. It would take Buttercup some time to forgive Blossom, and it would take Blossom even more time to forgive herself… but they would be a family again. Eventually. Bubbles flew home, delivering a patient and the good news to her father.

* * *

I'm planning an epilogue, so keep on hoping that I'll be able to finish it soon ;). Sorry to everyone who doesn't like happy endings... I hope the injuries and mental scars are enough to keep this fic from being cheesy. 


	12. Blossom: Rebuilding a life

Isumo1489: Heh, just asking for the best, aren't you? You'll get Japan only if I get as much anime from you as I want. I hope you like the ending, because I don't think that I'll have very much time to write in the next month. Thanks for all the comments, without you the fanfic wouldn't be so long!

Dracori: If you think so. I like thinking the thoughts of my charas, but if you don't write a story how YOU want to write it, but how others tell you to do, it won't be good. Well, here's the epilogue, but don't feel too bad for Blossom. Buttercup might be a little rough in this chapter, but it's a cheesy happy ending after all. Thanks for your comments too!

Damn! I didn't manage to steal the rights for PPG. I guess I'll have to write another fanfic to keep myself motivated trying.

* * *

**Blossom – Rebuilding a life**

It was dark. It stank. And there wasn't a single noise.

Her room was exactly how Blossom wanted it to be. She didn't want anyone to enter it. She didn't want to talk, she didn't want to see anybody, she just wanted to be alone. The shame inside of her was already overwhelming… being confronted with other persons, especially her family, would have been more than she could bear.

Of course this was stupid. She WOULD have to talk to them eventually. She remembered all too well, what Bubbles had told her… that she hadn't talked to them, which had allowed HIM to possess her. She wouldn't make this mistake again. But until she found the strength to face them, she would just stay here. Trying to figure out, how much evil was hidden inside of her soul… willing to take over her body and sacrifice the ones most precious to her.

Why? Why had she allowed HIM to take over her mind? Why hadn't she noticed, that he had been manipulating her all the time? She knew why. There had been so much pain inside of her… pain and loneliness. He had offered her a way to escape the pain by hating the ones that had left her alone. Or so she had thought. One single tear escaped her left eye. She had been crying for days. If the Professor hadn't left some food and drink in front of her room once in a while, she would have been dried out now. She hadn't even been brave enough to talk with him. But what could she have said? Sorry daddy, but I thought that Bubbles and Buttercup had an incestuous relationship, and because of that I wanted to kill them?

After she had spent the first day after their fight in the library in her room, Bubbles had tried to speak with her. She hadn't dared to open the door, but she had told her that she was glad to have her back. That she wanted to forgive her so badly, but that Blossom had to talk to her first. That she and Buttercup had indeed become very close in these last weeks… but that there had never been forbidden feelings between them.

Blossom hadn't answered her. She knew that Bubbles had been telling the truth. That she would forgive Blossom everything. Bubbles was a saint. Blossom had done things, which were so cruel that she was afraid of herself… but Bubbles was willing to offer her a second chance without any hesitation. And of course there had never been impure feelings between her sisters. Blossom didn't know how it had been possible for her to accept such crap as the truth.

But she wasn't ready to receive forgiveness. She had humiliated, affronted and attacked her sisters! Buttercup had been injured because of her! Of course Bubbles would forgive her, but it wouldn't be right! She had done horrible things! She didn't know how she could ever atone for her sins, but at least she should try to face these sins and live with the shame and the regret for a while.

She was still weak. She knew it. HIM wouldn't dare to speak to her again, because this time she wouldn't listen to him anymore. But there was still this weakness inside of her, this fear, which had caused this mess. In the library she had ordered Bubbles to help their sister, but deep inside she had felt the sting of betrayal again. To see Bubbles gently carrying Buttercup's unconscious body, to see her looking at their sister with worried eyes… she had seen the pictures in her head again. The pictures of a forbidden embrace… and more. Of course she had suppressed these upcoming pictures and feelings immediately. She had already known that HIM had been manipulating her. But she had also known the weakness was still inside of her. She had started crying, because she had realized back then that the nightmare wasn't over yet. The trust between her and her sisters was still shattered and the fear was still inside of her. The fear, that they would leave her one day.

She had to talk to them. Bubbles had said that she and Buttercup had been able to bond again, because they had talked about their fears and sins. She HAD to talk to them. But she didn't know where she should find the strength to look into their eyes. She was quite sure that she would be able to face the Professor soon. Maybe she would even be able to speak with Bubbles again, because the gentle girl WANTED to forgive her. But talking to Buttercup after all she had done to her… how could that ever become possible? Buttercup was unforgiving, and she had every right to be… but Blossom knew that she just couldn't take rejection. She needed her family… although she didn't deserve them.

Her dark thoughts were interrupted by a loud bang. She looked up. Someone was in front of the door, making all this noise. And somehow she doubted that it was the Professor… or Bubbles. And she was right.

"Blossom!" she heard Buttercup's annoyed voice through the door. "Open this damn door and let me in!"

For a moment she pondered if she should answer… but if she didn't, Buttercup would just get angrier. Somehow Blossom was glad to hear Buttercup's irritation. It meant that she wasn't injured anymore… at least not heavily. Buttercup was the kind of person that would stand up just to infuriate her doctor. It was one of her most endearing character traits.

"Please leave me alone, Buttercup" she muttered loud enough for her sister to hear. "I don't think I can talk to you right now."

Buttercup cursed. "You CAN and you WILL, damnit!" she shouted, banging on the door once more. "Now open this door or I'll open it for you!"

"Go away, Buttercup, PLEASE!" Blossom pleaded, burying her head behind her knees. "I just CAN'T…"

She was interrupted by the sound of splintering wood. Her head jerked up while her jaw decided to drop again. Buttercup had a quite dark expression on her face as she entered the room through the now handle-less door. She seemed to be a little pale, but her eyes were powerful, and they were boring into Blossom's. She screwed up her nose.

"And I thought that the last experiment of the Professor smelled bad" she commented, grimacing. "But this stench tops everything."

"Wh-what are you doing?" Blossom uttered, taken aback, but a little angry too. This definitely wasn't how she had wanted her dialog with Buttercup to be. "You can't…"

Buttercup made a sound of disgust, looking at Blossom's window. "Damn, your reaction is almost exactly like mine" she told Blossom, who didn't know what her sister was talking about. "But I certainly won't start talking with you without fresh air. I bet not even the Rowdyruff Dorks could stand this smell!"

With that she floated to the window and yanked it open, breathing in the fresh air eagerly. Blossom blinked. She wasn't used to sunlight anymore. She stood up, now getting quite annoyed. She had just desired a little time to prepare herself for facing her family, and now Buttercup had burst into her room, insulted her and she didn't even have the decency to look at Blossom!

"Buttercup, please leave my room immediately!" she demanded. "Or I'll…"

"Or you'll do WHAT?" Buttercup retorted, finally turning her head. Her angry eyes squashed every word in Blossom's mouth. "Will you turn evil then?"

Blossom blushed and lowered her head. Tears were forming behind her closed lids. Her fists were trembling. She knew that Buttercup had every right to be angry at her. And she knew that she owed Buttercup this talk. But still…

"That's… not fair!"

"No, it isn't!" Buttercup agreed, crossing her arms. "But what the hell am I supposed to do? Waiting till you remember that you've got a family out there?"

"That's not FAIR!" Blossom repeated, finally looking up. But when her glance met Buttercup's, all of her anger vanished again. "I… I know you're waiting. But I'm… still not ready to talk."

Buttercup snorted. "Sheeesh!" she made. "If I didn't know that I've been exactly like you are now, I'd be quite disgusted."

Blossom sighed and sat down again. "Why are you here, Buttercup?" she asked wearily. "Did you just come to insult me or do you want to say something else too?"

"Oh, if it were up to me, you could stay here and rot for as long as you want" Buttercup told her, glaring at her. "But sadly enough I have got a duty to carry out."

"Duty? What are you talking about?" Blossom asked, not daring to look at her sister.

"Let's just say that there was a certain someone there to save me, when I was nearly as down as you are now" Buttercup answered harshly and stepped closer. "And she's quite depressed, cause you're staying in here like a frickin' turtle. Do you even realize what you're doing to her, Blossom? Or to the Professor?"

Blossom growled, frustrated. "What do you wanna hear from me, Buttercup?" she demanded, tears now flowing down her cheeks. "I interpreted something wrong, and because of that a villain was able to control me. I embarrassed you in front of the whole school, because I thought that you and Bubbles were… together. I nearly got both of you killed. I'm an idiotic asshole that doesn't deserve living with you. And all of that happened just because I didn't talk to you. Satisfied now?"

"Damn right, you didn't talk to us!" Buttercup confirmed. Then suddenly her voice became calmer. Blossom felt that her sister was sitting down next to her. "Blossom" she asked in a silent voice "why do you want to repeat this mistake? We drifted apart once because we didn't dare talking to each other. Haven't you learned anything? Why don't you go and talk to them?"

Blossom lowered her head even further. Thick tears were dropping onto her legs. "I… I can't" she breathed. "Buttercup… how can I ever look into their faces again after everything I've…"

She was interrupted when a hand suddenly grabbed her shoulder and yanked her around. Buttercup's face was angry again, her teeth were clenched. The grip on her shoulder was tight – very tight.

"The hell?" she hissed. "What about taking some responsibility, Miss Law-and-Order? Because of you I had a fucking hole inside of my stomach! You nearly beat Bubbles senseless! I couldn't care less if you intend to apologize or just sit here, but why don't you want to see Bubbles at least? I can't see why, but she misses you!"

The rest of her control left Blossom's body. She began to sob. "But I… but I WANT to be with you again. All of you. It's just…" She swallowed hard and looked down again, tears clouding her sight. "I… I don't want to make a mistake again. I…" Her voice became very quiet. "I'm afraid… that I'll hurt her again, if I can't look at her. Or the Professor. Or… you. I wanted… to prepare myself."

She couldn't tell exactly, but it seemed like the grip on her shoulder slackened. Buttercup didn't say anything. Blossom tried to get a grip on herself, but she failed. She simply continued sobbing, mostly without tears since she barely had any left. Then Buttercup started talking again. Her voice was quiet too, even a little soothing. But maybe that was just Blossom's imagination.

"I thought so too" Buttercup told her. "I thought too that it would hurt Bubbles, if I told her the truth. And so I decided to wait, even after HIM's first attack. But she knew that it was important to talk about our fears. And so she forced me to listen."

Blossom stared at Buttercup. "Huh?" she made. She had seen in the library that Bubbles had matured… but forcing BUTTERCUP to do something??? Buttercup grinned.

"Unbelievable, isn't it?" she asked. "But it's the truth." Buttercup told her everything that had happened after Bubbles had woken up after HIM's attack. Blossom could hardly believe what she heard. This didn't sound like Bubbles at all… but the Bubbles she knew wouldn't have been able to save her from HIM too.

"But why does she need me then?" she asked Buttercup after her little story. "I mean, if she really has that much willpower, why can't she simply wait for me to come out of my room… like you would have been able to?"

Buttercup sighed and rubbed her forehead. "It's confusing, I know. Believe me, I know. But I think that she is still very fragile inside. She can be incredibly strong, if she has to be, if she has to save someone she likes, but she can't be like that forever. She has got more willpower than both of us, but she's still a very emotional girl, and she is still scared. She can shove that fear aside for a short amount of time, but she is still scared that our family could break apart again."

"Like me" Blossom whispered.

"And me too" Buttercup admitted. "And because of that she needs you. She needs both of us. Don't you think that she deserves some attention?"

Blossom remained silent for a few seconds, deeply lost in thoughts. Then she looked at Buttercup again, this time without fear. "What about you, Buttercup?" she asked her sister. "Do you think that you can ever trust me again? Trust my judgement? My orders?" She stopped for a second. "Anything I do or say? After all I was absolutely convinced that you and Bubbles were…" She stopped again and blushed a little bit. "… you know what I thought. Do you think that you can ever forget that?"

She must have looked really miserable, because Buttercup didn't make any caustic remark. She just looked back at her. But Blossom could see that something inside of her sister was happening. She knew her well, she knew the small signs of an inner battle. She waited. And eventually Buttercup sighed again.

"If you ever tell anyone about this, you'll be deader than any corpse on this world" she warned Blossom. When the redhead didn't say anything, Buttercup continued. "I'm still quite angry at you, just so you know. After all you did all of this crap, just because you misinterpreted one or two things and because you were too scared to talk to us. But in these last weeks I have been wondering once or twice… wondering how I'm actually feeling for Bubbles." She ignored the shocked glance of her sister and continued, trying to suppress the red colour on her own cheeks. "I mean, you brought up all these idiotic accusations, but it's true that mine and Bubbles' relationship had been changed. We were spending more time together, because you weren't there… and I was impressed how different she was. How mature. How strong-willed, if she has to be. And in the next second so carefree, so lively. And well…" She groaned in frustration. "… I guess I've been looking for someone like that. For someone who has got a strong will… who can keep me in check. But at the same time I wanted someone who needs me, whom I can protect. And well… Bubbles is such a person."

Blossom was quite pale now. "You… you don't mean…" She couldn't finish the question. Buttercup wasn't REALLY trying to say that…? No, she wasn't, was she?

"No, I'm not" Buttercup stated, her cheeks now being unmistakably red, though she tried to mask it with an angry face. "I guess, I was just thinking… that way, because you had left us. Because suddenly it was just me and Bubbles. I was spending so much time with her, and I saw all sides of her, and…" She broke off. "Damn, I don't know how to describe it! I was so… impressed by her new, strong self, that I…" She hissed, frustrated. "I think I had a small crush on her… not a real crush, more like a response to you leaving us. I didn't want to lose her too, so I guess I tried to bond with her even more." She glared at Blossom. "It's nothing serious, okay? This… feeling hasn't been so strong anymore… since you're here again."

Blossom's tears had stopped. "So I'm… important for you too?" she whispered. "You want me back too?"

"Oh, the hell!" Buttercup suddenly exclaimed. "You won't get me to say something like that! You're a damn bitch, who nearly got us killed, and once I'm fully healed again, I'm gonna kick your little ass!" She turned away. "But you're important for the Professor and for Bubbles… and because of that you have to leave this room and talk to them… so that we can at least try to be a family again."

The words were harsh, but Blossom knew better. Buttercup would have never told her about her feelings for Bubbles, if she didn't want Blossom back either. Blossom suddenly felt a wave of gratitude floating through her body. She had never seen this responsible, sensitive side of Buttercup before… but maybe this was because of Bubbles' actions too. All of them had changed… maybe even for the better. She laid her hand on Buttercup's, squeezing it gently. "Thank you, Buttercup" she simply said.

"Oh, skip that!" Buttercup muttered, sounding – or trying to sound? – annoyed. "Just walk out of this sticky room and try to live again! I'm fed up with you being the difficult one and me being the responsible one! It's unnatural!"

That made Blossom smile, even if it was just for a second. "Sure" she agreed.

"And you WILL help me with my training!" Buttercup demanded, still not facing her. "After all I can't do anything right now… the Professor would skin me alive." Then she pointed at the door. "So, will you finally go and talk to them? Or do you want me to MAKE you go?"

Blossom nodded. And then, out of instinct, she bent over and quickly kissed Buttercup on the cheek. The girl turned around, put her hand onto the spot and looked at Blossom, astonished.

"The hell?" she finally announced. "What the heck was that for?"

"No reason" Blossom said, shrugging. She grinned. "Just trying to be a family again." Then she became serious again. "Buttercup, I'm… I'm sorry. And…" She paused for a moment. "I love you."

"Now don't get weepy" Buttercup replied harshly, looking away again. "Just go! And don't try kissing me again, you hear me?"

"Sure" Blossom said again, standing up. Right in front of the door she stopped and turned around. "By the way… would you allow Bubbles to kiss you, Buttercup?"

Before Buttercup could answer, she quickly closed the door, grinning slightly. While walking down the floor she mused, that the three of them would need some time to get rid of the uneasiness between them, but at least her sisters seemed to be willing to give it a try, even Buttercup. So she, Blossom had a duty too. A duty to make the first step towards the Professor and especially Bubbles.

She cleared her throat in front of Bubbles' door. She actually was nervous. What if she made a mistake? What if she couldn't say a word? But then she lifted her hand to knock. Buttercup was right. Being here and maybe making a mistake was better than just staying in her room and doing nothing. That would just make Bubbles unhappy. And Blossom owed her so much. She had to show her sister, that she was at least willing to try to live with them again. She knocked.

"Yes? Who's there?"

At least she didn't sound sad. Just… normal, but not cheerful either. Maybe she could change that. She breathed in deeply. "Bubbles?" she announced. "It's me."

Just a moment later the door opened. Bubbles looked at her with shining eyes. But she seemed to be collected, a little cautious… as if she didn't want to scare Blossom away. Buttercup was right, the Bubbles she knew would have just flung her arms around her neck. She was really different now.

"Blossom" she said warmly. "You've come out of your room again. I'm glad."

"Yeah", Blossom answered, smiling nervously. "Buttercup kinda made me leaving it."

Bubbles grinned. "I figured she'd do that eventually" she admitted. "She was quite… disappointed, when I told her that you hadn't left your room in days."

"That's an understatement" Blossom mumbled. "Bubbles, look, I'm… I just wanted to say that… that I'm…"

Bubbles grabbed Blossom's hand with hers. She smiled at her gently. "It's okay" she said. "You don't have to say it right now. How about we just talk about how all of this started? I think it's easier that way."

They were so different. Buttercup would insult you, verbally attack you, until you were too upset to notice, that you were talking about something you didn't want to talk about. And Bubbles would do everything to make you feel comfortable, at ease, until you were really ready to talk. Different, indeed. But she loved them exactly the way they were

She shook her head. "No, Bubbles" she told her sister. "We drifted apart because we couldn't talk to each other about our problems. I HAVE to say this… or I won't be able to look at you again." She swallowed hard. "Bubbles, I'm… I'm sorry. I'm sorry that I didn't listen to you and Buttercup. I'm sorry that I was so cruel. I'm sorry that I…"

It felt so good. Bubbles' embrace was like the touch of a mother… soft, soothing and relieving. "It's okay" her sister whispered. "I'm sorry too, Blossom… for many things you don't know yet. I don't hate you. Nobody hates you, not even Buttercup. We're a family, remember?"

"I'm sorry" Blossom sobbed, embracing Bubbles. She would have never thought that there were still tears left inside of her eyes. "I'm so sorry, Bubbles."

"Shhhh", Bubbles comforted her. "It's alright, Blossom. We have still so much time to talk. All that matters is that you're home again."

Yes, this was her home. And Blossom would do everything to prevent such a situation taking place ever again. She was so blissfully happy, that she wasn't in the least prepared for Bubbles' question.

"So, Blossom" Bubbles said mischievously. "I'm curious… When you thought that I and Buttercup were a couple… did you ever imagine us doing… stuff?"

Blossom's tears stopped abruptly and her eyes widened. Her face became red. Bubbles ended the embrace and started giggling. It took Blossom a few seconds, but then she joined in. She didn't really know why, but Bubbles didn't seem to mind. And it washed away a huge part of all the tension inside of her. Bubbles had changed, indeed. Blossom didn't know, if she liked all these changes… but she was willing to find out.

* * *

Aww, gosh! Even this end is cheesy! Seems that I can't write another one! How do you like it? 


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